oil vs electric for heat (vacation home, zoned, price)

[xbure9x]

ok, this is a very general question, and I'm sure there are many variables involved, but in its simplest form, how expensive would oil have to be to make heating your home with electric space heaters in each room more cost effective? Is it more cost effective even right now since you only would need to heat the rooms you are using and not the whole house? Does the answer change if you have young kids at home so therefore are home all day?

[BigMike50]

LIPA will absolutely rape you if you use electric as your heating source. I would say around 6-7 dollars a gallon would be the break even point.

[rocafeller05]

On Long Island electric will never be cheaper to heat your home than using oil. In other states where electric is 8 cents a kilowatt, yes. The only way you could do it here is by going solar and installing a electric boiler.

[nassau2suffolk]

As the price of crude rises, so will LIPA's fuel surcharge on your electric bill.

[agw123]

Originally Posted by xbure9x

ok, this is a very general question, and I'm sure there are many variables involved, but in its simplest form, how expensive would oil have to be to make heating your home with electric space heaters in each room more cost effective? Is it more cost effective even right now since you only would need to heat the rooms you are using and not the whole house? Does the answer change if you have young kids at home so therefore are home all day?

This one is a no brainer.. OIL over electric. Anything over electric on LI

[TomMoser]

My vacation home has electric heat. One advantage is that each room can be controlled seperately, so if we are not using some of the bedrooms, for example, we close the doors and do not heat those rooms. Of course, this is not on Long Island and we are not there all the time.

[rocafeller05]

You could do the same thing if you have a hot water system by using zone valves for each room with a thermostat.

Originally Posted by TomMoser

My vacation home has electric heat. One advantage is that each room can be controlled seperately, so if we are not using some of the bedrooms, for example, we close the doors and do not heat those rooms. Of course, this is not on Long Island and we are not there all the time.

[NYEconomist]

Originally Posted by xbure9x

ok, this is a very general question, and I'm sure there are many variables involved, but in its simplest form, how expensive would oil have to be to make heating your home with electric space heaters in each room more cost effective? Is it more cost effective even right now since you only would need to heat the rooms you are using and not the whole house? Does the answer change if you have young kids at home so therefore are home all day?

No

[rocafeller05]

To the OP....Instead of looking for other fuels and methods to save your money look into why your using do much oil. Is your attic insulated properly with a R-40 inuslation or greater? Are your windows double pane and air tight? Is your boiler firing properly? Is your system zoned properly?

These things alone could save anywhere from 30-45% on oil usage.

[xbure9x]

ok, since the original question seems to be impractical, here's another take. I currently leave my house at 67 overnight because I have a 4 year old and a 20 month old, and that's the lowest I'll go for them. Would I save overall money if I were to put oil filled space heaters in their bedrooms just for overnight and lower my home thermostat to 60? Let's assume the heaters are run on a low setting for say 7 hours each night.