Yikes: $2.85 a gallon (Hampton, Penn: house prices, buy, allergy)

[irishLASSIE333]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

WNEP also has quite a few typos in their articles. Very surprising for reporters.

I've noticed that, too! And not just minute errors that many would miss but, instead, GLARING errors with punctuation, tenses, etc. I once thought about contacting them and asking if they needed a volunteer editor, but I decided against it.

[mathjak107]

just think yesterday i couldnt even spell electrical engineer and today i are one

[I LOVE PA!]

Originally Posted by SWB

If nothing else posting regularly on Talkback 16 Online makes me appreciate the mental prowess that God has blessed me with in life. If that message board is an accurate cross-section of NEPA's mentality, then Lord help us!

Exactly! And you just dn't fit in! OK, this idiot is going to figure out who you are! The posts that urked me the most are about the recent incident where the 14 yr old girl was hit by a drunk 71 yr old lady outside of Hamlin. There are more posts on there complaining about letting old people drive than complaining about a DRUNK driver!! One said she was too old to drive! Another says that all cars in Pa should have mandatory equipment on them to see if the driver is drunk. Another says anyone over 65 should be tested yearly for a drivers license. Well, that's mt rant for today!
Oh, and I don't criticize those who don't have perfect spelling and grammar, as I certainly don't; but these posts make ou wonder if they made it past second grade.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

The Hat...this is my second home in NEPA with electric heat. When I purchased my first home 14 years ago, propane and oil were much cheaper and everyone thought I out of my mid for purchasing a home with electric heat. Most of the pocono summer homes were only equiped with electric heat, the cheapest to install. Then the craze hit to switch to propane - not only the propane insert for the fireplace, but many people installed the propane heaters that installed on the wall. (Someone I know had their dogs tail catch fire but I digress!) Anyway...we were happy with just electric. Propane in many houses caused the paint to yellow, almost like a smoker lived there. I didn't like that and the electric was affordable for us as our home had high ceilings with a loft and 2 bedrooms upstairs. It was easy to heat because all the heat rose, keeping the bedrooms comfortable without turning on the heat and downstairs comfortable too. The thing I love about electric heat is that EVERY room has its own thermostat. That is great for the bedrooms. We got quite used to this, and wanted it for our second home. I have no regrets. I still don't have a propane insert, when I do have a fire, we use wood and it is only for the beauty and atmosphere. It is a small fireplace and doesn't give enough heat to use it for heating purposes. We keep the bathrooms toasty with the doors shut, the bedrooms at 50 with the door shut. We like to sleep in a cool room, easily changeable if it is too cold. Our home is for sale and we will get electric heat again if we build, and the way it is looking now...I might have to avoid homes for sale that have oil or propane heat.

Thanks, I Love PA, I guess when it comes time we will investigate this through. Saw something on the news last night where some people were trying to steal an oil truck.............the owner said no wonder with these costs.

Thanks,

the Hat

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Geothermal heat...now that is interesting. It's amazing that there is that much heat down there, especially when well water is ice cold!

Yes, I hear folks talking about the geothermal heat and solar heat for the future.

[thecoalman]

Ironically the cheapest way to heat a home is right under the noses of every resident in Northeastern Pennsylvania yet few take advantage of it. Assuming market value anthracite coal is cheaper than wood, wood pellets, corn or any conventional heating system. Not just by a little but quite a bit in most cases especially where oil or gas is concerned. The only way wood can compete with the cost of coal is you cut, split and stack it yourself which is huge amount of work. I have yet to hear anyone that has switched from wood to coal say they would go back and that's from a pool of hundreds. Geo-thermal or solar are cheap but both of those require a huge investment and aren't alternatives for everyone.

Modern coal stoker designs are clean, efficient and not much different than a regular oil or gas fired heating unit. They do require a little work and attendance but most stokers can go 2 or 3 days without any intervention from the homeowner and even then it's only a few minutes of your time. Most will last for decades and some of the larger models can be serviceable for half a century. One manufacturer even has a guarantee of a lifetime of use. Most stoker and coal stove manufacturers are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania which means you'll be supporting yet another local industry.

Current prices for coal locally in the Scranton/W-B area are hovering around $150 per ton delivered yet people out of state are paying upwards of $300 plus and they are more than happy to pay it because they are still saving money. I should also note that coal prices have seen steady but modest increases each year for decades, adjusted for inflation its nearly the same as it was 20 years ago.

If anyone is interested in an unbiased price comparison there's an excellent fuel cost calculator available from The Department of Energy:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

Someone posted they paid 3.15 a gallon for oil, using a price of $150 per ton for coal to produce 1 million BTU's it would cost $29.12 for oil or $8.03 for coal... it's that much of difference. As I said its not just a little but quite a bit. Other methods like elec., gas and propane are going to be similar.

In conclusion if you want to save a bundle of money on your home heating bill and support numerous local industries switch to anthracite coal, you'll
be glad you did for more reasons than just saving a few bucks... well a lot of bucks.

I have forum dedicated to the use of anthracite, my first post here so I won't post the link so as not be labeled as spammer but it should be fairly easy to find.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Hey Coalman, is that the pea coal I hear people talking about? Thanks for the important information. Next house is definitely having a different way of heating than propane.

The Hat

[thecoalman]

Pea coal is not a type of coal but a size. There's two main classifications of coal Anthracite and Bituminous. Northeastern Pennsylvania is one of the few places in the world where anthracite is found. Bituminous is found in nearly every country in the world. The difference is anthracite is nearly pure carbon with very few impurities, it burns with no visible smoke or soot which makes it ideal for heating in a home.

Anthracite comes in 4 common sizes. From largest to smallest: Chestnut, Pea, Buckwheat and Rice. There are others but those are the most common.

Chestnut and pea is used in smaller hand fired stoves, this would be similar to using wood except instead of throwing wood on the fire every 4 hours you only have to mess with it every 12-24 hours depending on the model. One my forum members did an experiment and kept his going for 3 days over a long weekend he wasn't going to be there if I remember correctly. One benefit of such stoves is they require no power, lights go out you still have heat.

The Buckwheat and rice is used in automatic stokers which can be forced air or boilers. One manufacturer even makes a coal/oil combo if for example you wanted to leave your house unattended for a long period of time in the winter. Just switch it to oil and your set. Stokers require electricity but as I mentioned it's not much different than having a regular oil or gas furnace. Everything is automated, what you do need to do is supply it with coal which usually goes in an attached hopper and take the ashes out. Really no more than a few minutes a day.

There's lots of options depending on your needs.

I'll give you a real world estimate of what it costs us. Currently it's running us about $1500 a year to heat a 3700 sq. foot home, the basement and attic are not heated however since the furnace is in the basement the residual heat keeps it comfortable. So it's actually more than 3700 sq. ft. That also includes most of the domestic hot water year round, due to the setup the hot water supply is practically limitless. The hot water heater rarely comes on and isn't much more than glorified storage tank. It's an older home but it does have new windows and is insulated fairly well. We keep it at comfortable 70 degrees in the living space.

That $1500 is not typo either. :P

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Thanks Coalman,

A wealth of information and it looks like the way we will go. Your post was very informative and helpful to us.

The Hat

[crazyworld]

I got an oil delivery today..$3.45 per gallon .. $400.20 for not even 1/2 a tank.
I have two tanks each holds 137 gallons