Anyone have more than 2 oil tanks? (cost, bill, discount)

[Valerie C]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

The living room also has a fireplace, which I will likely use sometimes. It is pretty centrally located so would likely do a good job of heating the living room, dining room (across the hall), and maybe the kitchen a little, plus the stairs & up and down hallways.

Fireplaces, unfortunately, don't do a very good job of heating your home. Very inefficient, and really only useful for ambiance. About 90% of the heat goes straight up the chimney... At least if you have glass doors on it, you can stop some of your house's heat from escaping up, but even with the damper closed, the air that you've warmed with your heating system will go up and out.

I will tell you that a wood stove insert was the single best investment we've made since owning this home. Since buying, we replaced the heating system, replaced the single pane windows, added insulation to the attic, added exterior insulation after replacing the exterior siding. The one thing that made a noticable difference was the wood stove insert. Now we are WARM all the time (70+ degrees) with the thermostat set to 60. The furnace might kick on once or twice overnight. Our oil company asked if we were getting deliveries from another company because they came buy with a delivery and the tank took less than 100 gallons (they don't like to deliver less than that, but because we're on auto-full, they determined that we should have been down to a quarter tank. Yes, a good insert can cost some $$ but you can find some that combine beauty and efficiency.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Valerie C, can you please clarify, do you mean a wood stove insert in an existing wood-burning fireplace? I am trying to understand how the heat from that wouldn't just go up the chimney as well?

I do have glass doors on the existing fireplace. I have never had a wood-burning fireplace and did not realize how inefficient they are. :-( In that case it doesn't malke sense to use it at all (unless the electricity goes out and it's my only heating option, but we very rarely have power outages in this area).

I thought about getting a pellet stove for the TV room, but unfortunately there's no good place to put it. The only possibility is a corner of an exterior wall. The problem is that even with a blower, I doubt that it would help heat much of the rest of the house, as the TV room is just off the garage about 40' from the living room (which is just to the left of the main entrance -- standard Colonial floor plan). I don't want to pay several thousand dollars to pay for a supplemental heating unit that heats just 1-2 rooms.

[chris410]

A wood stove insert is basically a wood stove that sites inside of the fireplace opening, they are much more efficent then just fireplaces with glass doors as they are sealed much better and typically have an electric blower that blows the warm air back into the room instead of letting it escape up the chimney.

They are not cheap, but they pay for them selfs in 1-5 years depending on the cost and the price you pay for wood. (pays for its self real fast if you get free wood)

anything you need to know about wood/gas/pellets can be found here

Hearth.com - Information on Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, Pellet Stoves, etc.

They have a great forum as well.

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

Valerie C, can you please clarify, do you mean a wood stove insert in an existing wood-burning fireplace? I am trying to understand how the heat from that wouldn't just go up the chimney as well?

I do have glass doors on the existing fireplace. I have never had a wood-burning fireplace and did not realize how inefficient they are. :-( In that case it doesn't malke sense to use it at all (unless the electricity goes out and it's my only heating option, but we very rarely have power outages in this area).

I thought about getting a pellet stove for the TV room, but unfortunately there's no good place to put it. The only possibility is a corner of an exterior wall. The problem is that even with a blower, I doubt that it would help heat much of the rest of the house, as the TV room is just off the garage about 40' from the living room (which is just to the left of the main entrance -- standard Colonial floor plan). I don't want to pay several thousand dollars to pay for a supplemental heating unit that heats just 1-2 rooms.

[SuperSparkle928]

This is what they are talking about.
Something like this:

Winter Warm Large Insert

I put one in my first house; took me two years to use a tank of oil (275 gallons), which was just for hot water from the oil burning furnace. Basically it never ran, except to keep the water hot.

They are a fair amount of work to operate, but it would heat the entire house (just a little one, about 3K ft^2). Ran it 24/7. Proper stoking methods, and keep a good supply of wood in a direct-access shed made it easy. One trick is to get the airflow 'pattern' such that for the warm air flow never had to 'retrace its steps'. I think the only downside is that I tended to keep the house at the high-70's temperature, as it was so cheap to heat. Only had to empty the ashpan about once a week. The ritual was; get home from work, lightly stoke it; at bedtime, fully pack it. at breakfast, lightly stoke it. Before leaving for work, fully pack it. Never went out, and the house was always warm. I do believe (as Coalman will verify), that coal is easier.
Back when I was in New England, I recall that the limit for oil tanks in a basement was two 330-gallon tanks. The big tanks (out in the yard) were something that mortgage lenders would run away faster than an americium pile.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Chris410 and SuperSparkle928, thanks for the info. I think I may go back to the store where I bought the wood pellet furnace for my old house (back in '05 or '06) and ask them to come do a site visit and tell me some options. I am all set with heating oil for '12-13 so right now I am really just looking ahead.

Thanks for the replies, i will rep everyone I haven't already!

[Valerie C]

Here's what we decided on:

Pacific Energy Fireplace Products | Alderlea Cast Iron Wood Stoves & Inserts

LOVE IT! It looks great, heats the house. The only think I would change if we did it over again would be to get the one with a catalytic converter, for even more efficiency. But this is worlds better than the fireplace.. worlds!!

[JBtwinz]

My brother and sister in law put a second 300 gallon oil tank in their basement about 2 years ago. They have the ability to pay for the fill with out doing the the budget plan. They usually try to top off in July or August when the prices seem to settle lower. Their reasoning on the extra tank is as that several years ago for a few seasons there was some pretty wild price fluctuations from fall to spring and every little bit helps especially if you are using 900 gallons a season. I am like the rest though....thats a lot of oil to be storing. I would go the wood or pellet route.

We have several friends who have the pellet stove with the auto feed and it really takes the chill out of the house and is a great supplement. Prices on pellets are also rising though.

[Valerie C]

Originally Posted by JBtwinz

We have several friends who have the pellet stove with the auto feed and it really takes the chill out of the house and is a great supplement. Prices on pellets are also rising though.

That's what tipped the scale for our decision on a pellet vs. an insert: market prices. When you require a manufactured product to feed the stove, you're at the mercy of the retailer. Cord wood can be 'free' (or very reasonably priced) but it requires a ton of work and can be problematic for those with a physical difficulty or lack of good storage area. It's said that heating with wood warms you many times: splitting, stacking, carrying inside, cleaning ashes... well worth it though, at least if you are able-bodied

[karen_in_nh_2012]

ValerieC, when you say it "heats the house," can you say a bit more? My house is a basic Colonial with an addition. As you walk in, there's a 5-foot opening on the left to the living room (13'6" x 23'6"), with the fireplace centered on its far (exterior) wall (a 23'6" wall). Straight ahead is a hall and stairs to go up to 5 bedrooms (3 above the main house, 2 in an addition above the TV room/garage). To the right on the first floor is a 3' opening to the dining room, which leads to the kitchen (as does the front hall). Walking through the kitchen leads to the TV room.

I imagine a wood (or pellet) insert would heat the living room, dining room, 1st-floor hallway/stairs, and maybe the kitchen, but I doubt that it would reach to the TV room?

Is your house 2 floors? If so, does the insert (which I assume is on the 1st floor) heat the 2nd floor at all?

Just trying to get an idea of how much of the house would be heated with the insert.

Also, I used pellets at my previous house -- had a wood pellet furnace (not stove) in a forced-hot-air system (I know a lot of people don't like them, but I HATE baseboard heat as I have dozens of bookcases and need wall space -- I like forced-hot-air). When I bought off-season a ton cost less than $250, which is approximately comparable to 100 gallons of oil, so it was still quite a bit less (and from what I understand pellets are easier than cord wood). Would a pellet insert work in the same way as a wood insert in terms of heat (i.e. be as efficient)? I think they are easier to clean.

I am able-bodied but honestly don't think I'd be too keen on splitting my own wood. Haven't cord wood prices risen a lot in the last decade? (I could be wrong about that.)

Thanks for the info!

[399083453]

Typically using auto-delivery the oil/propane/etc company will deliver when prices are at their highest. Ensuring they make the most amount of money. Who would have thought?? Hehe. You can save a TON of money by watching the gauge yourself and ordering when it gets just under 1/4. Most have free delivery if its over a certain number of gallons. I check my oil every monday as a good habit. Takes 2 seconds.

Another good habit I have is I pay for it with cash. I estimate my yearly oil usage and divide by 12. Next I transfer that amount from my checking account to my savings..."oil account". I treat the transfer like any other bill. So when it comes time to buy more oil, the money is sitting there in the account.