What's your oil usage? (Boston: credit, house, water heater)

[charlieontheradio]

We're in a 1,200 square foot, 100 year old building with a 40 year old furnace on the North Shore and going through about 150 gallons running at 62 during the day and 60 at night. Our water heater is connected to our furnace and is new-ish. Our oil bill is a billion dollars.
Are we on-par with everyone else, or are we looking at a new furnace?

[oldsage]

Can't you use natural gas in Boston? Here in Denver our furnaces are natural gas and for Electricity and Gas it runs between $100.00 to $140.00 per month for a 900 sq ft house.
I keep the temperature at 66 during the day and drop it to 62 at night and wear layers of clothes but am quite comfortable.
Try cutting back your temperature at night when everyone in in bed and pray for an early spring.

[scarletfire]

You can get a free energy audit through Energy Star. They'll send someone to your home and see what are the best areas for improving energy efficiency. My friend just had this done and the guy gave them all kinds of goodies like energy efficient lightbulbs and these panels that go behind your electrical outlet to keep cool air out. I think you can go to Conservation Services Group or one of the Energy Star sites like myenergystar.com or energystarhomes.com to set this up. If you have any trouble finding it please feel free to PM me and I can ask my friend for the number.

One thing you can also do is check what temperature your water heater is set at. Often they are set way too high and adjusting the temperature down even a few degrees can have quite an impact on energy efficiency. Here's more info on settings: Natural Handyman's adjusting water heater temperature

[smarty]

If your oil bill is a billion dollars

Yes. You should replace your furnace... and probably your house.

On the heat loss side, you have to figure out if a 100 yr old house is up to par on insulations. Most likely not. Walls were thinner with less insulation. You may just want to see how to add insulations. No one can give you a number as your situation is different than many others. Call your utility company to do an energy audit.

On the heat generation side, a furnace older than 30 yrs is most likely not efficient. The question is really how long you plan to stay in your house as it takes a few years to get your return on investment on your new furnace. As someone suggest, GAS furnace is cheaper and currently gas is less expensive, you may even get some conversion $$$ credit from gas company.

[M504]

i buy my oil direct from Texas at $47 a barrell so overall i get an awesome deal and save money

[surfingatwork]

Originally Posted by charlieontheradio

We're in a 1,200 square foot, 100 year old building with a 40 year old furnace on the North Shore and going through about 150 gallons running at 62 during the day and 60 at night. Our water heater is connected to our furnace and is new-ish. Our oil bill is a billion dollars.
Are we on-par with everyone else, or are we looking at a new furnace?

We typically spend $1500/yr on heating oil. Heat is the only thing it's used for. We keep our temp at 60 during the day and when we're sleeping (no children) and anywhere from 65-70 when we're home before bed. We usually end up buying 500 gallons during the winter. House is 1700sf (inc. LL which has heat), furnace is probably the same age as your furnace. I'm in Southeastern MA. Our water is heated by propane.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by M504

i buy my oil direct from Texas at $47 a barrell so overall i get an awesome deal and save money

Wow... do you refine it to heating oil and gas yourself? Oil is selling at $100.. $47 is a good really good deal Can you let me know how to get in on this?

[charlieontheradio]

Thanks to everyone for the great info! I'm going to have plenty of spring projects insulating outlets, etc.
We plan on living where we are now for a couple of years, so we're going to suck it up at 59 degrees for the rest of the winter and get to insulating this summer.

Thanks again!

c

[JoeyDC]

We also use oil and we had it filled up 100Gallon about two weeks ago. We always turn temperature on 70 and 75, and turn it off once we leave the house or go to bed. Yesterday we noticed that it is already empty . I can't believe it! Now we have to call the oil company again to fill it up, and this will cost us another $340. That really sucks and right now I'm using a portable heater otherwise it would be way to cold here .

[smarty]

Portable heater is just as expensive when you get the electric bill...

Btw... you think heating oil is expensive now... wait until next year... when it can go above $4/gal... Your US dollar is not going far... it is at a all time low again... we may even have 1US$ = 0.9CAD$ soon. I think I know how the Canadians feel a few years ago...