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Hmmm. Interesting question. I don't do heat. I am not in FL. Current temperature here is 9 degrees F outside. I have no heat in my house - by choice. let me rephrase that: I have ventless propane heaters in my house and full tank of propane. i choose not to use it. I am sitting at my computer wearing shoes, two pairs of socks, thermal underwear, jeans, cotton shirt, sweater and ski jacket. I do have a little electric space heater blowing onto my legs and I feel comfortable, although I can see my breath when I exhale.
I have a portable kerosene heater too, with a full tank and three full containers of fuel in the shed. I am not using it.
I sleep in a sleeping bag and am toasty warm in two flannel nighties, two pair of wool socks, mittens and a ski mask hood with an electric blanket set on low and comfortor.
Filling my propane tank costs about $300. At the rate I use it, it will last me all winter - and beyond.
I might spend another $150 on kerosene. That too, will last me all winter. My electric bill this past month was $35.
This lifestyle would not work with children or the elderly and neither is an issue. People think I'm rich because I go out to eat every week. I'm not rich, I'm just extremely frugal and I like to go out to eat.
There is definitely something wrong with the price of heating oil. It should be cheaper than diesel at the pump, and it's not. I guess it is what the oil companies can get away with. I know the NJ tax for diesel is something like 17.5 on the gallon and 22 or so federal excise tax (?).
I never looked about what a therm (gas) costs in previous years because I couldn't do anything about it anyway (renting).
This year as of last bill I paid $1.45 per therm delivered. That is $1.45 per 100,000 BTU vs $3.00+ per 139,000. To me it looks like heating oil is just about 2X as expensive. Does gas really fluctuate that much, or does oil? Or both???
For the last few weeks I've been researching like crazy how to heat our home in the next 7 or so years while we live here. The "just turn up the thermostat" option does not work for me.
I came up with the cheapest thing next to coal was believe it or not wood. Now, that didn't jive with my wife due to air quality concerns, and that is obviously a lifestyle choice. You are paying for that in other ways like by chopping, loading, etc.
The next thing after that I figured was a direct vented natural gas powered heater. These things are not so amazingly efficient by the AFUE number (83%, and you can find plenty of furnaces rated in the 90s), but suck in cold air from the OUTSIDE for combustion and spit it right back out directly through a 3" hole in the wall. Most furnaces do not use cold outside air for combustion. This helps in 2 ways I think. Cold air is more dense so it burns more efficiently(?) and it will not create a draft in your house, where it "finds" air by sucking it through wherever leaks you might have. The problem with these is that they are ugly. We are going to install one anyway, and see what happens. They cost up to $1500 for the 38,000 BTU version. I still have not figured between the 22,000 BTU and 38,000 BTU version for our 750 sq. ft. living area. The hope is to shut off the gas furnace entirely but I am not sure this is enough heat to place in one location that it will "flow" to all areas of the house. The nice thing about the 22,000 BTU version is it is smaller and programmable while the 38,000 BTU version is not. Would love to set it to 70 at 6am and wake up to warmth. stevemorse turned me on to these actually in the kerosene variety, but kero is silly expensive down here and more of a pain to store, and you have to fill it up, etc.
Alice, you should really not be using ventless heaters in your house but it doesn't sound like you have the heat on at all. Our basement is not heated, and I was worried about pipes freezing. I have a thermometer down there and check it frequently and haven't seen it go below about 45. It isn't insulated at all.
Let's just say you were paying $3.40 for fuel oil.
Assuming there is no state, nor federal tax on diesel, you are essentially paying 40 cents PER gallon for delivery (18 state, and 22 federal).... 40 cents * 275 gallons = $110.... what am I missing here?????
To start off with, fuel oil at the supplier level should be cheaper than diesel. It is dirtier, has more water content and no fancy fuel additives. This is just "to my knowledge."
If I had fuel oil, I'd probably be buying it at the station and pumping it into my own tank. I believe you can get the taxes back this way. Dunno how an old furnace would handle ultra low sulfur diesel. Glad I don't have fuel oil for now. If you ever go out to the stix they sell Red diesel at the pump, and you will see HUGE differences in price between dyed and non dyed.
I just got my oil bill and the price per gal. was 3.52 per gal. My average usage is 160 gal. per month. I keep my therm. down to 65 degrees while sleeping and while I am at work. Only turn it up the few hours in the evening. $600 a month is killing me and I just installed a brand new oil furnace this summer, so I thought that would help my heating costs, but it doesn't seem to have efected it. I fear what it will be like next winter
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Cost in Washington State
