oil and gas (apartment, new house, calculation)

[marta12]

hi do anyone knows what cheaper oil or gas heat.



thank you

[Beachcomber4]

Depends on the area and what the crude oil prices are doing. In recent years, natural gas seemed to cost less.

My new house has oil heat. My initial budget payment for oil this year was based on a projected price of $5 per gallon. Fortunately, the price was down to about $2 per gallon so my actual cost was about 60% less than projected. Because I've now overpaid, my monthly payment has been decreased significantly. Nice surprise.

[mommytotwo]

i agree w/beachcomber4.

there was a time when natural gas was considered to be cheaper.

I always assumed it was.

Till I moved into an apartment w/gas on gas heat, an archaic system where the heater is on the side of the gas stove, or in a free standing "box" w/fire in it. I had never seen these things in my life. Basically there was heat in the kitchen and DR and none in the bedroom or LR.

My gas bill got up to $200 per month plus and we weren't even warm.

Next apt was my first experience w/oil heat. We spent way less money, but it was concentrated in a few winter months. We were much warmer but the heating system was so much better than the other one, not to mention the layout of the apartment was more compact and better insulated..

We've since moved into a house w/oil. I was scared about what would happen this winter, but luckily the oil prices fell.

Whether one is cheaper than another, I couldn't even guess at this point because I cannot compare the places I've lived, insulation amounts, heating systems, different prices, etc.

I wonder if there is an internet site that will allow you to put in current prices for oil and current prices for natural gas and it will calculate costs based on the same exact amount of living space??????

lol, god this post is probably SOOOOOOOOOOO unhelpful!

[miu]

I prefer gas because the bills are pay as you use it. I'd rather not have to pay a large amount of money to get my oil tank filled, then have the oil just sitting there all summer. As to the ultimate costs, it also depends on how you manage your thermostat settings. I've only turned on my heat twice this year. Once to check it, and then for half an hour last week to bring the house up to 60 degrees. My house by itself stays around the mid-50's. My boyfriend and I wear sweaters in the house. It seems frivolous to heat the house to a higher temperature just so we can run around in t-shirts.

[smarty]

HaHa... Miu.... and my friends thought I was cheap and crazy to set my house temp to low 50s at night and 60 when there is someone home. Also, it is great temp to snuggle under the sheets.

Btw... you're lucky someone else is heating your resident... there is no way I could keep my house at 50F without heat on when the outside temp is 20F.

In any case, Gas as fuel is more efficient. Gas equipment can easily get 90% efficiency vs mid80s or lower compare to oil heat. Hence, for oil heat, equipment needs to be tuned up every year. Also, as oil equipment age, the efficiency drops.

In theory if they are both running at 100% efficiency,
1 Cubic Foot of Natural Gas = 1030 Btu's
1 Gal of #2 Fuel Oil = 139,000 Btu's
1 KW of Electricity = 3,413 Btu/hr

To normalize for easier calculation.... amount of fuel equivalent to 1,000,000 Btu's
Natural Gas: 1 MCF, 10 therms or 1,000 cubic feet
Fuel Oil #2 @ 139,000 Btu/gallon: 7.194 gallons
Electricity @ 3412 Btu/kWh: 293.083 kWh

If oil is $2/gal.... 1M Btu cost $14.
If Gas is $1.30/thermo.... 1M Btu cost $13.
If Eletricity is $0.08/kwh: $23

A few cents change in the fuel price will change who is less expensive. At this time, gas is still a little cheaper... that is without adding the efficiency/cleanliness factor of the equipment.