I am not paying $900 for another tank of heating oil!

[RoughCollie]

A tank of home heating oil lasts about a month and we are out again. It was cold yesterday, so I told everyone to put on long johns and suck it up. Then I ordered a couple of space heaters (safe ones) from Amazon, which will be here on Friday and cost about $150 total. I ordered 2 different brands and may order a 3rd when we see which we like best.

 

I figure the upstairs is about 10 degrees warmer than downstairs and we can all use our electric blankets if we get cold. The space heaters are for the den, living room and the last one will be for whichever room we are using that is cold.

 

I figure with the oil prices being the way they are, even with the cost of electricity in Mass being twice the national average, running these heaters as needed will cost less than a tank of oil per month. Plus we can use them in the fall, when it is cold enough to turn on the heat, but not cold enough to justify the cost of buying oil.

 

I don't know how anyone can afford to keep buying home heating oil. $900 a tank is outrageous, IMO.

 

To top that, I read on another site that some are expecting the cost of gasoline to hit $6/gallon this summer.

[Karenciavo]

Here's to hoping our 70 degree temperatures in NJ today reach New England.

[Andie]

I sure hope it warms up for you soon! $900/mo?!! I can't imagine! We've had our first warm days here - I wish you a speedy spring!

[tsuche]

Hi,

Our propane had gone out last week and we have been warming up in the morning with a kerosene heater it heats up quickly

That may help.

Blessings,

Terry

[Quiver0f10]

That's what we would have been paying if we were still in Maine, if not more. I am thankful we moved and don't have oil now. I feel for you!

[Amy in NH]

Hi,

Our propane had gone out last week and we have been warming up in the morning with a kerosene heater it heats up quickly

That may help.

Blessings,

Terry

 

Kerosene can be used interchangeably with #2 heating oil, and it's more expensive. She could just turn on her oil furnace for an hour to warm up the house for cheaper than using kerosene.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Our "price capped" plan went up for the first time ever this year.

Propane for our cook stove is a once a year fill and it just doubled in price too.

Long johns here too.

[Amy in NH]

Our oil company (a small local independent) will deliver 100 gallons at a time upon request, so we don't have to have our whole tank filled up (for $900~!!!!) to get enough oil to last a few weeks. Of course, our last 100 gallon delivery was a couple of weeks ago, and I have a $375 bill sitting on my desk. Ugh! I'm just hoping it lasts the rest of the spring. With the warmer weather comes decreased usage, right?

[genie]

 

It was cold yesterday, so I told everyone to put on long johns and suck it up. Then I ordered a couple of space heaters (safe ones) from Amazon, which will be here on Friday and cost about $150 total. I ordered 2 different brands and may order a 3rd when we see which we like best.

 

I figure with the oil prices being the way they are, even with the cost of electricity in Mass being twice the national average, running these heaters as needed will cost less than a tank of oil per month.

 

This is what we have done. We have a propane furnace, and we simply could not afford to keep filling it up. So we wear lots of layers, toboggans, and socks (ME??? Wear something on my feet in the house???).

 

We also bought space heaters. The price of electricity here is not cheap, but it is certainly cheaper than propane!! My husband puts one under his desk (he works from home) and we have one in our school room. It sure makes walking through the house a chilly experience, but at least we stay warm when we are in our main areas. We also move the heaters to our bedrooms at night and close the doors. Much cheaper to heat small rooms than trying to heat the whole house like the furnace does.

 

We have a wood stove, but it is an old Ben Franklin style and it is very inefficient. We looked at buying a wood pellet stove, but they run close to $3000 by the time it is installed. Of course we have spent close to that on propane this winter. :glare:

 

Our plan for next year is to just suck it up and buy a few cords of wood and deal with the inefficient wood stove and continue to use the space heaters for the rooms that stay cold. Ideally, in a few years we will be able to switch to a pellet stove and maybe even an electric water heater and then not have to deal with the ever-increasing fuel prices.

[Audrey]

We got a pellet stove last fall and are very happy with it. We still have fuel in the oil tank and we filled it only once last October. By the way, for anyone else on fuel, you can just go buy your own #2 diesel and refill it yourself. At least around here, no one's changed to summer diesel yet.

[Amy in NH]

How about the price of pellets? How did your winter of heating with pellets compare to what you would have spent on a winter of only oil?

 

I've heard that the price of pellets will be going up because of the rising demand...

[Audrey]

How about the price of pellets? How did your winter of heating with pellets compare to what you would have spent on a winter of only oil?

 

I've heard that the price of pellets will be going up because of the rising demand...

 

Now, I don't have any bills handy, but we had figured back in March that we still hadn't spent even 1/2 of our usual winter energy costs. Granted, we still have at least another month, but I don't think we'll need another load of pellets. Prices here for it are pretty cheap and from a local supplier.

[Claire]

How is your house insulated? Could you improve heat retention by insulating more?

[Andie]

kerosene can be bought in tiny amounts, rather than filling a tank so close to the warm weather.

 

I'm grateful to have natural gas heat when I read about heating oil prices. It's still not cheap, but at least we can pay a monthly budget amount & spread the cost out a bit.

[genie]

We got a pellet stove last fall and are very happy with it.

 

When we were investigating pellet stoves, the salesmen kept implying that it would warm the whole house. I find that hard to believe, given how ours is set up. For example, our floor plan includes an open living room, dining room, and kitchen. The living room is where the stove would be. But there is a hall off the living room that leads past a bathroom and laundry area directly to our bedroom, with a 90 degree corner down to dd's bedroom and my office. The heat from our wood stove was never capable of making it all the way down the hall to our bedroom, much less around the corner and down that hall to the other bedrooms.

 

But the salesmen insist that it will. :confused: I'm thinking the living room would have to be extremely hot before the bedrooms would be comfortable.

 

What do you think?

[Tammyla]

That is a lot of money per tank. I guess I'll be more content with our natural gas bill when it arrives.

 

I do use our small electric fan/heater for room heating here and there. They work well for those days when you don't need to heat the entire house, but want to take the chill out of a room. We also have a gas fire place, but it doesn't get used as often.

 

Hope your temps are up there sooner rather than later. We have snow in the forecast....AGAIN!:smash:

[Audrey]

When we were investigating pellet stoves, the salesmen kept implying that it would warm the whole house. I find that hard to believe, given how ours is set up. For example, our floor plan includes an open living room, dining room, and kitchen. The living room is where the stove would be. But there is a hall off the living room that leads past a bathroom and laundry area directly to our bedroom, with a 90 degree corner down to dd's bedroom and my office. The heat from our wood stove was never capable of making it all the way down the hall to our bedroom, much less around the corner and down that hall to the other bedrooms.

 

But the salesmen insist that it will. :confused: I'm thinking the living room would have to be extremely hot before the bedrooms would be comfortable.

 

What do you think?

 

 

Well, I'd be skeptical, too. I think it would depend on the distance, too. Ours works fairly well, but we find it's not warm enough upstairs with the pellet stove alone, so we kept the rads running. They do a lot less work than before because the stove compensates considerably, but I know it didn't do our whole house and ours is less than 1400 s/f on two floors (not including the cellar which is a whole 'nother issue).