Heating Oil

**pajeff02** · 01-22-2011, 03:10 PM

Every house I have ever lived in has had natural gas and/or wood heat. The property we purchased last Fall in Beaver Springs has an oil burner. We were kind of surprised to learn that there is not even a service line for natural gas in the area. The oil furnace heats the house and domestic hot water and runs off a 275 gallon tank. We had the unit serviced and cleaned shortly after buying the house and the tank was filled.

We were advised to call for more oil when the tank level reaches 1/4 full. It was getting close 2 weeks ago, so I called last week and ordered oil. They dumped in 198 gallons (at around $3.13 a gallon) so it appears that we are averaging about 2.2 gallons of heating oil per day since the last fill up. We are only there on weekends and keep the house at 55 degrees when it is empty.

As I have no familiarity with these units, I am just curious as to how much oil these heaters usually chew through in the winter? I know there are a lot of variables that come into play as to how much it uses, but figured someone can give me at least a rough idea if this is in the ballpark. Best guess is that the furnace is at least 10 years old.

**Sarge** · 01-22-2011, 03:13 PM

Holy shit. May I suggest a Franklin Stove?

**pajeff02** · 01-22-2011, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge

Holy shit. May I suggest a Franklin Stove?

What is that?

**67CamaroRSSS** · 01-22-2011, 03:22 PM

Pot belly type stove. They will sit on a stone or brick riser with a stone or brick surround and they burn wood. Requires a metal chimney and a flue for venting the exhaust. Called a Franklin stove as it was designed by ben Franklin as a relatively inexpensive means to heat a dwelling.

My sister has 4 of these in her 3,000 sq foot house and they work quite well at heating small and large rooms.

**pajeff02** · 01-22-2011, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by 67CamaroRSSS

Pot belly type stove. They will sit on a stone or brick riser with a stone or brick surround and they burn wood. Requires a metal chimney and a flue for venting the exhaust. Called a Franklin stove as it was designed by ben Franklin as a relatively inexpensive means to heat a dwelling.

My sister has 4 of these in her 3,000 sq foot house and they work quite well at heating small and large rooms.

Since this is a vacation home, that wouldn't work real well as we sometimes go 2-3 weeks between visits. Granted, when we are down there it'd be nice to have something like that. I bump the thermostat up to 68 degrees as soon as we walk through the door. Dawn would probably prefer I set it at 72 though -- she likes it warm.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 01-22-2011, 03:55 PM

Try this: Leave the oil heat at 55 deg at use the Franklin stove as a supplemental heat source for when you're there. FWIW, my sister's house has forced air, AC and swamp coolers. They live in the high desert east of Los Angeles. The Franklin stoves add a cheery atmosphere as well as actual heat to the rooms during the winter. Most of the time they are the only heat source during the winter.

**Zapper2003** · 01-22-2011, 04:22 PM

Check out your bill from the service you had done Jeff. Let me know what size nozzle they used, that could give you an idea. The first set of numbers, be it .60, .65, .75, .85, 1.00 etc, that's the amount, in gallons, the nozzle puts out per hour @ 100psi. Generally your oil pump is set at 100 to 140psi, obviously @ 140psi the nozzle puts out 40% more per hour than its rated size. The second set of numbers is the angle at which the nozzle sprays the oil into the combustion chamber which has no bearing on what we're calculating. Anyhow..

Since you estimated your usage @ 2.2 gallons per day, using the nozzle size you could effectively calculate the average run time per cycle. Either way, at 2.2 gallons a day it's not seemingly absurd, but the 55* is what gets me. 2.2 gallons per day @ 3.13 is 6.89 a day, and per 30 days is only about 207$ per month.

**pajeff02** · 01-22-2011, 05:32 PM

^^ Thanks! I have the receipt at the house and will see what it says next weekend.

**Detroit Power** · 01-22-2011, 10:42 PM

67Camaro- does she live up in the Antelope Valley?

I used to live in Lancaster- what a dummmmp.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 01-22-2011, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by Detroit Power

67Camaro- does she live up in the Antelope Valley?

I used to live in Lancaster- what a dummmmp.

I know where that is (used to live in LA) but no, she doesn't. They live in San Bernardino County, north of Yucca Valley.

***doberman 152*** · 01-23-2011, 05:34 AM

I have a 275 gallon tank which i burn #2 fuel and i feel your pain brother, i filled it before winter and had to top it off on 1/2/11 they put <122.7 @ $3.299>
total cost was $406.60

**4get gto** · 01-23-2011, 06:32 AM

Welcome to eastern Pa. Or should I say home heating oil......

Get your check book out............!

**pajeff02** · 01-23-2011, 06:36 AM

Originally Posted by doberman 152

I have a 275 gallon tank which i burn #2 fuel and i feel your pain brother, i filled it before winter and had to top it off on 1/2/11 they put <122.7 @ $3.299>
total cost was $406.60

Ouch! That's more per gallon than I just paid. I assume that like gasoline, the price on this stuff bounces up and down (mostly up) with the market.

Originally Posted by 4get gto

Welcome to eastern Pa. Or should I say home heating oil......

Get your check book out............!

Been a northeastern Keystoner now for 39 years -- just new to heating oil is all.

**4get gto** · 01-23-2011, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by Zapper2003

Check out your bill from the service you had done Jeff. Let me know what size nozzle they used, that could give you an idea. The first set of numbers, be it .60, .65, .75, .85, 1.00 etc, that's the amount, in gallons, the nozzle puts out per hour @ 100psi. Generally your oil pump is set at 100 to 140psi, obviously @ 140psi the nozzle puts out 40% more per hour than its rated size. The second set of numbers is the angle at which the nozzle sprays the oil into the combustion chamber which has no bearing on what we're calculating. Anyhow..

Since you estimated your usage @ 2.2 gallons per day, using the nozzle size you could effectively calculate the average run time per cycle. Either way, at 2.2 gallons a day it's not seemingly absurd, but the 55* is what gets me. 2.2 gallons per day @ 3.13 is 6.89 a day, and per 30 days is only about 207$ per month.

Holy shit........................

My part of the country you just pay the fucken thing and shut the fuck
up........... I want you checking my bills...............................

***doberman 152*** · 01-23-2011, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

Ouch! That's more per gallon than I just paid. I assume that like gasoline, the price on this stuff bounces up and down (mostly up) with the market.

Been a northeastern Keystoner now for 39 years -- just new to heating oil is all.

Yup per gallon, cost me at least $800 to fill it (275gallons)

**Smkn_TA** · 01-23-2011, 11:55 AM

Most people around here have propane heat. I bet that would be more expensive yet.

**Zapper2003** · 01-23-2011, 01:12 PM

Propane right now (here) is aroud 2.699 a gallon. Not sure what heating oil is. Assuming its average, 3.20 a gallon or so, it seems like propane is the way to go, but not when a gallon of oil has around 50% more btu's per gallon than LP.

**pajeff02** · 01-23-2011, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Zapper2003

Propane right now (here) is aroud 2.699 a gallon. Not sure what heating oil is. Assuming its average, 3.20 a gallon or so, it seems like propane is the way to go, but not when a gallon of oil has around 50% more btu's per gallon than LP.

Good point. How much heat do you actually get out of a dollars worth of each type of fuel? Now you have me curious. Intrawebs, here I come!

**Zapper2003** · 01-23-2011, 06:42 PM

approx. 140,000 btus/gal in oil, approx. 91,600btus/gal of LP.

To equal the heat content of 1 gallon of heating oil, it takes 1.4 therms of natural gas, 1.52 gallons of propane, and 40.6 kwh of electricity.

quick google search...

http://www.kirotv.com/sponsors/1873784/detail.html

**pajeff02** · 01-24-2011, 03:13 AM

^^ Saw something very similar. Natural gas prices aren't bad right now -- our last bill was around $360 or so. That's $140 less than it usually is this time of year.