# How much oil do you use per year?



## Rokal (Oct 28, 2011)

Last year, my pellet stove heated my entire 2400 sf house (built in 1970's).  I only turned on the baseboard heat on the coldest nights to keep the pipes from freezing.  Before getting the pellet stove, I was using about 1300 gallons of oil per year.  Last year, I used about 500-600 gallons mainly for hot water.  I have an indirect hot water tank and an my boiler is over 40 years old.  Does 500-600 per year seem high for hot water usage for a family of four (daily showers, laundry, etc.)?

I realize that the boiler is old.  I would consider getting a new boiler if I could reduce my oil usage down to 250-300 gallons per year.  The payback would be quick if I could save 250-300 gallons per year.

How much oil a year are you burning and how old is your boiler?


----------



## spacecowboyIV (Oct 28, 2011)

I don't know what electric rates are like where you live, but $300 will get you a good electric water heater.  I'm probably spending around $20/month in electricity for hot water, based on what you've posted you are around $125/month so payback could be really quick.


----------



## briggsy13 (Oct 28, 2011)

We have a much smaller house, and this is our first year with a pellet stove.  But I think our oil usage for heating and hot water was around 800 gallons?  I want to find out exactly how many to be able to know our savings for this year.  We are thinking that without using it for heat that we can keep it around 200 gallons for just hot water.  There are 5 of us.  Although the kids are still little and share baths so that is a savings.  But still your number seems high for just hot water.  We also use the water heat setting on the dishwasher so it uses more electric but saves in oil.  We are also looking into other means of hot water.


----------



## mepellet (Oct 28, 2011)

Rokal said:
			
		

> Last year, my pellet stove heated my entire 2400 sf house (built in 1970's).  I only turned on the baseboard heat on the coldest nights to keep the pipes from freezing.  Before getting the pellet stove, I was using about 1300 gallons of oil per year.  Last year, I used about 500-600 gallons mainly for hot water.  I have an indirect hot water tank and an my boiler is over 40 years old.  Does 500-600 per year seem high for hot water usage for a family of four (daily showers, laundry, etc.)?
> 
> I realize that the boiler is old.  I would consider getting a new boiler if I could reduce my oil usage down to 250-300 gallons per year.  The payback would be quick if I could save 250-300 gallons per year.
> 
> How much oil a year are you burning and how old is your boiler?



Thats a LOT of oil for just hot water.   Last year we used about 500 gallons for both heat & hot water.  I kept the thermostat _*very*_ low.  The previous owners used 900 gallons/year for heat and hot water.  Boiler is about 20 yr old and was last tested to be about 80% eff. We also have an indirect water heater. The house is roughly 2200 sf and was built in the late 50's and has average insulation.

This is the first year with our pellet stove and we hope to be much more comfortable so I don't anticipate a huge drop in oil used but do expect some.


----------



## bonesy (Oct 28, 2011)

I don't use any oil, I have geothermal


----------



## Mroverkill (Oct 28, 2011)

when we bought our house we put in the stove (last year)  the oil company said the old owner used  about 1000-1100g per season    we used  275ish last year   the oil company kept calling and saying your due for oil  im like NOPE after the 3rd call they were like we think your gauge is broken and you should be dry lolol


----------



## Rokal (Oct 28, 2011)

spacecowboyIV said:
			
		

> I don't know what electric rates are like where you live, but $300 will get you a good electric water heater.  I'm probably spending around $20/month in electricity for hot water, based on what you've posted you are around $125/month so payback could be really quick.



I live on Long Island which has some on the highest electric rates in the country  :-(


----------



## Rokal (Oct 28, 2011)

mepellet said:
			
		

> Rokal said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Before we had the pellet stove, I would keep the heat at 63 degrees and still burned through 1300 gallons per year.  We wore jackets indoors all winter!  My boiler must be VERY inefficient.


----------



## karl0525 (Oct 28, 2011)

I would do a ge hybrid hot water heater(heat pump) love mine


----------



## silverfox103 (Oct 28, 2011)

Your posting could have been my house.  It is a 2300 sq ft ranch.  It was built around 1970, 40 year old boiler.  Before the pellet stove I used 1300 gallons of oil.  I said enough is enough, so I bought a Harmon P68, four years ago.  Oil usage went down to 400 gallons to supplement the pellet stove and H2O.  This year I bough a used Harmon P38, for $500,  for the other end of the house.  I will not turn on the boiler, my goal is bring the oil usage to zero.  I installed an electric hot water heater.  We have very reasonable electric rates because of a hydro dam.  Roughly speaking 1300 gallons @$4 per = $5200.  Maybe 5 tons of pellets @ $200 = $1000.  So I saved myself a good $4000.  I like that!  The house is nice and toasty, my wife likes that.  I will probably look for another used Harmon for the cellar.

Tom C.


----------



## North of 60 (Oct 28, 2011)

125 liters +- a year htg 2140sqft.  Last year was an exeption and burned 285 litres as had spinal surgery in Dec and was down and out for a while. Let the stove go cold while I was away from the family.  Easier on the wife with 2 boys.


----------



## urkiddin (Oct 28, 2011)

We use about 125 gals last winter.mainly for hot water.The only time the oil burner is used for heat is if we leave the house for a few days.Of course that's with only 2 people living here.Maybe you could send the kids to gramma's for the winter.Just kidding


----------



## RKS130 (Oct 28, 2011)

Our house is about 1450 sq. ft.; stone and brick exterior; plaster over wooden lathe interior walls; built around 1910 with no insulation.

Ironically, on Monday, just after the install of our new Accentra FS we received an oil delivery of 131 gallons. We had been topped off last May 26 and used it in between then and now only for hot water. So 5 months of hot water used 131 gallons of oil. 

We are a family of four, including a not quite 15 year old daughter who showers and washes her hair EVERY day, but this is somewhat balanced out by her twin bother who rarely goes near the shower at all - and then fleetingly, although now that he is in a coed High School, this is changing.

Last season our oil bill, including the service contract and one uncovered repair was just under $4800. To be fair, my 'beloved' mother in law lived with us last year and we had to keep heat up higher and on all day every day to accommodate her.

In any event, we are hoping the new stove will eliminate that cost and now I will turn my attention to alternative hot water solutions.


----------



## mrfjsf (Oct 28, 2011)

If you are using 500-600 gallons of oil to heat water, you are either using an obscene amount of hot water or your boiler setup is seriously inefficient. I heat my whole house on 560 gallons/year. If I were you, id ditch using the DHW coil in the boiler and buy an Electric HWH. Or if you can swing the cash, get a new hybrid HWH. Either way, that is wayyyyy to much oil just to heat water.


----------



## tjnamtiw (Oct 28, 2011)

karl0525 said:
			
		

> I would do a ge hybrid hot water heater(heat pump) love mine



Do you get the option of diverting the cool air from it into your house during the summer and venting it outside during the winter?  I saw them at HD but wondered about the wasted cool air.  Damn pricey, too


----------



## Fish On (Oct 28, 2011)

wow that's a lot of oil. i only use oil for hot water and heat only when we are away. 

i used 130 gallons last year. 

just filled up to top my tank off and sitting on lots of pellets so im good.


----------



## gck978 (Oct 28, 2011)

normally use 800 gal a year for heat and hot water now use about 150 just for hot water for 1300 sf cape built 1740


----------



## jtakeman (Oct 28, 2011)

"0" zilch, nada, none! I am weened. Have been since Dec 8th, 1995


----------



## fire_man (Oct 28, 2011)

I've post this before but here it is again. I need to update it through 2011, your post gave me motivation. 

We have a separate oil fired Hot Water Heater for just domestic hot water, which uses about 12 gallons/month for 2 adults, and two kids showering when you can get them to.


----------



## KodiakII (Oct 28, 2011)

Two years ago we used up the leftover oil in our tank (bout half full) and last year we used no oil at all.  Put a wood stove in this spring to use as a primary source of heat, and will use our corn stove as a supplement at the other end of the house...again no oil!


----------



## valentine92 (Oct 28, 2011)

I have been tracking this for the past few years since we installed our pellet stove.  Using oil for hotwater only 2 adults, 2 teenagers who take very long showers we would use 300 gallons of oil a year.  Our boiler is also very old and we wanted to get off of oil totally so we just installed an electric hotwater heater.  Waiting for the last 30 gallons to empty our tank before we flip the switch to electric!


----------



## SmokeyTheBear (Oct 28, 2011)

Two people, lots of canning, brewing, and keeping the garage under heated to 50Â°F.    Last year was 172.7 gallons.


----------



## spacecowboyIV (Oct 28, 2011)

Rokal said:
			
		

> spacecowboyIV said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Maybe then as one poster recommended you should look into a heat pump/electric coil hybrid unit.  You are paying way too much and a new boiler is going to be a waste of $$$ if you are going to heat with pellets anyway IMHO.


----------



## fire_man (Oct 29, 2011)

I can say exactly ONE good thing about oil. Nothing beats an oil fired hot water furnace for churning out massive amounts of hot water almost as quickly as you need it. We lose power many times per year, and the recovery rate of that water heater is amazing, from ice cold to shower ready in half an hour. I have heard electric hot water heaters take very long to recover.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear (Oct 29, 2011)

fire_man said:
			
		

> I can say exactly ONE good thing about oil. Nothing beats an oil fired hot water furnace for churning out massive amounts of hot water almost as quickly as you need it. We lose power many times per year, and the recovery rate of that water heater is amazing, from ice cold to shower ready in half an hour. I have heard electric hot water heaters take very long to recover.



Not the instant on demand ones, but then they suck a lot of juice.

The quick recovery units are also not that bad.


----------



## DonD (Oct 29, 2011)

500 - 600 gallons per year just for hot water seems like an awful lot. This is my first year with a pellet stove but based on my previous years summer usage compared to winter usage I estimated about 200 gallons per year for HW. This is for a family of 3. It's a relatively new Bock HW heater.

Pre-pellets, my entire oil usage was only 600 gallons per year for a 3600 sq ft house (about 2800 sq ft regularly heated/bonus room only when needed) the last few years. House was built in '99 and is well sealed and insulated. 2 zone heat with set back thermostats.


----------



## karl0525 (Oct 29, 2011)

tjnamtiw said:
			
		

> karl0525 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Don2222 (Oct 29, 2011)

Hello

With 22 yo Valliant Boiler with Tankless coil, original R7 Attic Insulation and No Pellet stove for 2000 sqft split.

*We gobbled up 925 Gallons per year for heat and DHW*

Now with a Brand new Buderus Triple Pass, Cold Start Boiler with Tekmar 260 Outdoor reset and SuperStor Ultra indirect water tank, R53 insulation in Attic and an Avalon Astoria Wood pellet stove.

*We use 200 Gallons of oil per year for DHW Only*


----------



## Shortstuff (Oct 29, 2011)

We use less than 400 gallons of oil per year to heat approximately 1300 sq.ft. of living space and the pellet stove heats the remaining 800 sq.ft.  We have a high-efficiency electric water heater for hot water.


----------



## save$ (Oct 29, 2011)

year before last, we used 196 gallons from April 2009-Aug 2010, I haven't called for oil since then, but will get some soon.  We have a hot air furnace and an oil fired hot water heater.  Both about 20 yrs old.  Replaced the hot water tank 3 yrs ago, but not the burner.  used 5 tons of pellets the year before last, and about 6 tons last year,  home is about 2100 sg feet, raised ranch split foyer, insulated well.  Two seniors at home. My wife likes it very warm.  
74-78f


----------



## Pellet-King (Oct 29, 2011)

1/8th tank last winter and we all remember how nasty last winter was, on 3/8 now and wont buy anymore until it's well under $3 gallon, have electric hot water so really dont ever need it, just there for resale home value


----------



## KaptJaq (Oct 29, 2011)

We are on Long Island, NY and pre-stoves we used between 800 and 1000 gallons per year for heat and DHW.  Since the stoves we use about 200 g/y for DHW only.  Two adults, 3 kids.  The DHW is via an aqua-stat type system with a 50 gallon storage tank off the same burner that is used for heat .  This was efficient when we used the boiler for both but now wastes some oil keeping the heating boiler hot enough generate hot water.


----------



## eschills (Oct 29, 2011)

Also live on Long Island in a raised ranch with about 1900 sq.ft. Have furnace for heat and separate oil fired 30 gallon hot water heater. I used to use about 1000 gallons per year for heat and hot water. Since the stove installed I have used 500 gallons per year. I have to re-insulate the garage so the bedrooms above stay warmer. That will cut down more oil use.


----------



## Rokal (Oct 29, 2011)

Don2222 said:
			
		

> Hello
> 
> With 22 yo Valliant Boiler with Tankless coil, original R7 Attic Insulation and No Pellet stove for 2000 sqft split.
> 
> ...




Don, did you get the new boiler after you had the pellet stove?   If so, how much oil were you burning just for hot water before the new furnace.  Do you have any idea of how long your payback will be on the new boiler.  It sounds like you went for a good unit.  I wouldn't mind springing for the new boiler since mine is so old and tempermental and I need a reliable backup to the pellet stove.

In my prior home, we had natural gas.  I had a Takagi tankless hot water system installed and was very satisfied.  It paid for itself in a couple of years.

I see that there are oil fired tankless hot water heaters now (Toyotomi).  I need to look into these as well.


----------



## Centurion (Oct 29, 2011)

You may want to consider a pellet boiler with a dhw coil and keep the old oiler for back up.  I did that 4 years ago and have never looked back.  I purchased a Marathon electric HWT last year which is super insulated and feed it with the output of the dhw coil.  Plenty of hot water with very low stby lossed and even heat throughout the house.  I used to burn around a 1000 gal. of oil a year now about 6 - 7 ton of pellets.  We keep the house at 69* at night and 71* during the day. The savings over the last 4 years has paid for the pellet boiler and the hot water tank.  GL


----------



## Northeaster2010 (Oct 29, 2011)

We have a 2200 sqft house built in 1885 downstairs was gutted and insulated up stairs not yet. Burn 0 oil last year, none plan for this year, have electric hot water heater. The first year we moved in with downstairs insulated we burned only oil and cost us over $3800...burning pellets for the 3rd year and love it.


----------

