How much does Oil Furnace Cost? Moving to OH (Hillsboro: houses, water heater)

[mintons]

Hi there - My wife and I are moving to Ohio (Hillsboro) in March and I am from TX, so have never had to deal with an oil furnace. One of the homes we are looking at and really like we found out it has an oil furnace. All I know is the home is about 2100 Sq. Ft, built in 80's, and the oil tank is 500 gallons. We generally keep our home set at 67/68 in the winter as we both get hot real easy. Also, the hot water heater is electric, so the oil would not be used for that. I am thinking we would only need about 1000 gallons a year, only using heater in the Nov-March timeframe, am I way off? How much does that typically cost, or how many gallons does a person generally go through?

[Sinker]

The following is the hand's down best blog for furnace questions - go the residential catagory. Very good help from readers there. HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air & Refrigeration Discussion - Powered by vBulletin

[jlawrence01]

I always hate these questions since it is nearly impossible to answer accurately. You can have two houses that are identical and the heating costs will be quite different.

My uncle lived in Hillsboro for years. Most of the housing is pretty old. How well is the house insulated?

Heating season in SW Ohio is generally mid-October to May 1. This isn't Texas.

[Buzzweiser]

There are a lot of variables in your question. How well is the house insulated, what will the winter be like in any given year, and the efficiency of the furnace itself. Some years in Ohio we have very mild winters, other years it can get sub-zero for a few weeks at a time. If the furnace is the original furnace it probably isn't very efficient by todays standards. I lived in an old farmhouse with a 70's vintage furnace that was 1800sq.ft and had been re-insulated. In a mild winter I burned about 1800 gallons with the furnace set at 70. One very particular frigid winter I burned 3400 gallons from Nov.1 to Mar. 28. One thing with oil furnaces you need to keep a substantial level in the tank at any given time. If you run out of fuel oil this can lead to numerous other problems like clogged injectors, lines, filters, etc. Also you'll want to make sure your supplier uses additives for extremely cold temps to avoid fuel line freeze and gelling.(I found it was always good to keep 10 gallons of No.1 around).I always kept some sort of alternate heat on hand for any problems arising from Fuel Oil heat. They only happen it seems when its the coldest it could possibly be outside. Anymore all types of heat are expensive so you'll have to choose which house has the right one for you. Good Luck.