Oil heat (Worcester, Lowell, Reading: apartment, rent, credit)

[SpringMom3]

We are moving to a 1300 sq ft ranch which has oil heat. We currently have gas and I am curious about the cost difference for oil. We paid at closing $800 for a 3/4 tank of oil and I'd love to know how long that would last.

If you have oil heat, can you tell me a little about costs? How are your windows? Anything I should look at insulating prior to this winter?

We keep our 3BR apt at 70 degrees and 68/69 at night and dont ever pay more than about $180 in the winter. I'm in for a shock, huh?

[SpringMom3]

ALSO- we looked into gas conversion. there is gas on the street, however its all the way down the street and just the cost for them to get the gas to our house will cost us 10k. I guess 100 ft are included, but the gas is about 400 ft away. plus the associate said it will run us about 2,500-10k just for the equip and labor to get it into our house.

[accufitgolf]

One townhouse association I lived in (North Reading, MA), struck deal with the local gas company (Lowell Gas??) to convert our heat pump HVAC systems from electric to gas. The gas company ate the cost of running the pipes if enough converted. Maybe you could strike a deal if enough converted to gas.

[Parsec]

I used to own a 1600 sf ranch heated to 67 at night and 60 during the day. Last winter I had my tank filled monthly at a cost of $457, $590, $677 and $510. I think you're in for sticker shock if you like to keep your home that hot. All my friends keep their thermostat even lower than mine, except for the ones who rent a small apartment.

I'm guessing that 3/4 of a tank will last you about a month in the dead of winter if you're running your thermostat at 68-70 all day/night. Are you a stay at home mom? You may have no choice if you have toddlers in the house during the day. Windows are the last thing you should look at when trying to make your house more energy efficient. Go to www.masssave.com and schedule a free energy audit ASAP (that reminds me, I need to do the same for my new house).

[haberstroh]

I agree oil heat is expensive. We pay for a bigger house about $3000 a year. With 58 at night and 67 during the day. Check with our gas company if they would install gas and if they pay you something towards it. But that would mean upfront cost as well. I would convert if I I had gas in my street.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by SpringMom3

We keep our 3BR apt at 70 degrees and 68/69 at night and dont ever pay more than about $180 in the winter. I'm in for a shock, huh?

Boy are you in for a shock. Gas companies are getting so many conversions and new homes, that they seldom want to pay to run lines for a few houses.

Over the last three years home heating increased so that the price per gallon that we paid went from $2.149 (bulk buy from year before) to $3.649.

Gallons of Home Heating Oil Used
1,576.9 gallons 2010-11
1,161.6 gallons 2011-12
807.8 gallons 2012-13

We were able to cut our usage in half by simply turning the heat way down, and using safe electric heaters set at 600 Watts. Of course, the electric bills went up, but only by a fraction of the amount saved on oil.

Because this home is 84 years old and has steam heat (very rare for a residence) you are unlikely to save as much. But you still come out ahead. Electricity is still more expensive than Oil per unit of energy,

If your boiler is at 85% efficiency than oil must cost $4.269 per gallon to equal the energy from electricity that costs $0.12 per kilowatt. It is unlikely to get that bad.

The issue is that electricity with zone heating is far less wasteful than heating the entire house, so the end result is less costly.

I am taking the time to spell out the reasoning, because up until 3 years ago using space heaters was almost always very costly way to heat a house. Many people who don't do the calculations will be horrified by using space heaters. But with recent heating oil costs, they can make for substantial savings.

Gas is still the preferred method, but good luck trying to get your gas company to install new lines at their expense.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by SpringMom3

If you have oil heat, can you tell me a little about costs?

A good friend of mine lives in a house that's fairly similar in style to mine and somewhat similar in size (mine might be a bit bigger). He heats with oil and I heat with gas. His heating costs are roughly double what mine are.

Originally Posted by SpringMom3

How are your windows? Anything I should look at insulating prior to this winter?

Originally Posted by Parsec

Go to www.masssave.com and schedule a free energy audit ASAP (that reminds me, I need to do the same for my new house).

What he said. The rebates they offer will cover quite a bit of the work and even if you do need new windows having the energy audit will qualify you for a zero interest H.E.A.T. Loan which makes the work much more affordable.

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Boy are you in for a shock. Gas companies are getting so many conversions and new homes, that they seldom want to pay to run lines for a few houses.

Exactly, there's so much demand for gas conversion that the gas utilities are no longer offering to shoulder any of the cost of conversion. In fact, I've called NStar and National Grid a few times for my customers and lately I've been told that there is a long waiting list for gas conversion. The best thing you can do is to get a bunch of your neighbors on board with converting that way you can split up the cost of the gas main extension amongst a number of people making it a more palatable expense. Do it quickly and get yourself on the waiting list so that you don't have to wait too long.

[Boston_Burbs]

Buy a wood stove

[scorpio516]

Another option besides gas would be electricity ($$$) or wood pellets.

Here's a thread in CT about pellet boilers: //www.city-data.com/forum/conne...py-regret.html

Savings: lets say you use 700G of oil a season. That's about 6 tonnes of pellets worth (depending on boiler efficiency, etc). 700G @$3.69 is ~$2650. 1 Ton of pellets is running about $275 today, at least in Worcester county. 6T = $1650.

At $2-3k installed, paybak period is ~2-3 years, if oil prices don't raise...
Of course, that's assuming you don't take advantage of any of the tax credits/rebates/grants on pellet boilers.
Of if you get a Rolls Royce boiler that's over $10K...

[masshawk]

I would advise you to get a jump on the masssave audit too. I just called them last week and was told the earliest appointment in my area would be mid-November.