Heating oil consumption

[Nebroch]

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/22/news/economy/heating-oil-price-drop/index.html

The guy is saying, that his house takes 5,000 gallons of oil per year. Is this considered normal in US, seems huge.

 

[demarpaint]

5,000 gallons of oil a year that's a [censored] of a lot of oil for that house. He should look into insulation, new windows, doors, etc. or move.

 

[Jetronic]

Mine takes 400 gallons and this house was built in the 60s...

 

[Ifixyawata]

What in the actual [censored] does a 1000 gallon fuel oil tank look like? Do they just pour it out into a sealed room or something? My mother's house has oil heat and the tank is around 400 gallons or less and it's quite large.

I'm surprised to see that there are still that many people using oil heat, as well.

 

[Nebroch]

There is a ground tank on the video clip. Those things can cause major pain if they start to leak, I've seen cases where several houses had to be demolished to remove contaminated soil.

 

[Andrew1972]

Our 3000 sf older home(1910) uses 900 gallons/year to heat and provide hot water for a family of 5 in coastal New England. The boiler was installed in 1978.

 

[SHOZ]

They should take their savings and upgrade the house. I find it hard to believe the use 5k gallons a year. Must keep the house at 80F and keep the windows open.

 

[xxch4osxx]

That is insane usage for heating oil. I only go through around 1000 liters in an entire year. Our hot water is also heated by the oil furnace.

 

[Nebroch]

1000 litres is a comfy figure

My consumption would be appr. 650 gallon if house was oil heated, 2600 sqft, build 1998 and annual average temperature is ~37 F in this location. madDriver's house is well build compared to this considering its' age!

 

[Donald]

Thats a lot of heating oil. An energy audit is warranted as is a locking cap. In 2013 it would have been $20,000 for the winter.

My current home uses around 900 to 1000 gallons and this year at $2.00 a gallon its doable. At $4.00/gallon it was a strain.

 

[eljefino]

When oil was $3-4/ gal I burned half wood in a woodstove, half oil. I bought my wood 18 months ahead and alternated drawing and stacking between two sheds.

Then last winter and especially this winter I've been 90% oil.

It's pragmatism at work, but wood is still around $180/cord and it has the energy density of ~100 gal of #2.

I feel kinda bad for the local wood guys who lock in land rights years ahead of harvest and the bottom's falling out for them, but I have to look out for myself first.

I didn't buy wood last summer and the stuff I've got is tinder dry. Lights off great.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Thats a lot of heating oil. An energy audit is warranted as is a locking cap.

He is probably heating half the neighborhood 10x5 gallon jugs at a time while they are out.

 

[BigCahuna]

I would be looking at having the tank checked for leaks. There's no way he should be using that much oil .,,,

 

[Delta]

Holy smokes, 5k gallons a year!? I just filled my 200 gallon tank a couple weeks ago, and it wasn't even empty, like 3/8. It lasted from December to mid February. It was $1.50/gal delivered, I wish I had another tank to fill to take advantage of the low price. Typically the thermostat was set on 63. We were having problems with the aqua-stat and last weekend it finally went. New aqua-stat and digital thermostat and everything's peachy.

Electric is so cheap here if oil gets high again we can use the electric heaters more often. We had a couple weeks of 20* or less temps and we used them. My electric bill was still only $60...

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Nebroch
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/22/news/economy/heating-oil-price-drop/index.html

The guy is saying, that his house takes 5,000 gallons of oil per year. Is this considered normal in US, seems huge.

Quote:
With a 1,000-gallon tank to refill every few months, he estimates he's saving up to $10,000 per year

Refill every few months means at least every other month for 5 times a year, so he refilled his 1,000-gallon tank all year long ?

Something is very wrong, may be he has leaky tank.

 

[53' Stude]

Yeah, I use wood and some hard coal when it gets real bone dead cold. My friend uses my homemade splitter and gives me all the wood I can handle. Currently some locust, rock oak and cherry and sassafras.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: Nebroch
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/22/news/economy/heating-oil-price-drop/index.html

The guy is saying, that his house takes 5,000 gallons of oil per year. Is this considered normal in US, seems huge.


That is an INSANE amount. In a year when it is extra cold and where I run the furnace a lot I might use 650+/- gallons and that is with the furnace running, at least part time, from October - April. My house is 40+ years old too with poor insulation.

I have got one fill so far this year @ 150.2 gallons and I am still at 1/2+ tank. In total I will be around 400 used for the year( counting the oil used that was already in the barrel from the end of last winter )because it was a warmer winter.

5,000 is just insane. The furnace would never shut down, just run constantly for months on end, to use that amont.

 

[Jetronic]

my furnace has a 1 GPH nozzle,actual consumption is maybe 10% higher. but to get to 5000 gallons a year the furnace would have to run 24/7 for 189 days straight.

 

[demarpaint]

I've worked in mansions that make that place look like a doll house that didn't use that much oil. Something is wrong.

 

[Wolf359]

Probably just some bad math going on. Even if he ran the hot water heaters on oil, it wouldn't use up that much. Looks like an average sized house too. He says he fills it up every few months. That's probably just during the winter. He also shows a 250 gallon fill so he's not even doing a full 1000 gallons every fill up.