Looks like I picked the wrong year to buy two pellet stove oil prices keep dropping....

[mass_burner]

Depends on Cash Flow. My pellets are paid for, I don't need cash coming in to use them. I need cash to pay for propane deliveries though - and I don't have an extra 1000 to fill my tank right now (and wouldn't have the money to fill the tank if somehow propane went to $2/gallon).

That's a good reason.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Oil getting more reasonable is a much bigger payoff than even stoves. I'm saving $20 on filling up the SUV every week.

That having been said, I don't let pellets sit around in my basement for a summer. I bought them, I'm going to burn them.

 

[JTRock]

I like others have bought and paid for both cordwood and pellets. I prefer the heat from both appliances over the warm choking dust smell of the baseboard gurgling away. I still need oil for domesticated hot water though. Last year I would run to the thermo and click the heat on while the misses took her long shower. It was like free heat lol! That house was a bear to heat for some reason. This new one is so much easier

 

[Tonyray]

That's a lot of oil for just DHW heating - think I would consider an alternative.

I use Oil for DHW...
Of course it;s just wife and I but I got 100 gallons back in February and then again in October...
the 275 gallon tank was quarter full..I;m little below half right now..
I'm guessing half gallon or less per day.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

what little electric space heating I use is now back to the oil burner. just checked out my new electric rates today. nasty grid up from $.08277/kw to $.16273 before delivery charges. my oil dealer's price today $2.609. last year I averaged $3.569. look to save a ton this year, then nasty grid steals it all for lts and running the boiler. TIHS/////

 

[steveg_nh]

That's a lot of oil for just DHW heating - think I would consider an alternative.

My wife reminded me that we used some oil in the upstairs family room a few nights when the kids had sleepovers. We average about 1.3 gallons a day for DWH alone.

 

[maple1]

My wife reminded me that we used some oil in the upstairs family room a few nights when the kids had sleepovers. We average about 1.3 gallons a day for DWH alone.

That's still a LOT of oil & expense for DHW. I thought ours was real bad (and it was) at 3/4 gallon or so per day.

I put in a new 80 gallon electric water heater 2-1/2 years ago here and sent the oil man packing. It can keep us (family of 5) in hot water for about $1/day (at $0.18/kwh). Getting rid of everything oil here was the best thing I've ever done. (Although might not be the best choice for everyones situation....)

 

[woodmakesheat]

I spend about $75/mo for hot water, cooking and clothes drying via propane. Does that seem reasonable?

Propane is $3.30/gallon locally.

 

[btuser]

First year I had the insert I was struggling to burn "seasoned" oak and oil had dropped to $1.50 gallon. Totally not worth it. Totally awesome.

If it happened again I'd wait, scrounge pallets for a fix if I needed it. I won't struggle with wet wood again. Every wood burner has his/her Scarlet O'Hara moment. Happens with the pellet burners too, ususally around January when everyone's run out, and another little piggie is born.

 

[steveg_nh]

Well, on top of my DHW usage, my boiler is incredibly inefficient. It has to stay at temp, or it leaks. It can't go cold...so that's wasting too.

 

[F4jock]

Use the oil burner to heat the bedrooms and hot water. In the winter hot water is a "free" by-product of the heat. Got a plan to get rid of the oil for hot water during the summer.

 

[bogieb]

I just got 150 gallons of propane at $3.11; $466 is damn near 2 tons of pellets. And if I was heating just my living area with propane, that wouldn't last a month even when the temps are just in the 20's and 30's (at 64 degree set-temp).

2 tons of pellets will get me about 2 months of heating (or more at this time of year) - and that is at 72-75 degree inside temps in both the basement and living area. Can't see why I would want to switch. Even if propane was at $2/gal and I could make a cold month on 150 gallons, and I only ran it for 5 months, that is $1500 of propane - 6 tons of pellets.

 

[jfunk138]

http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/refined-products/heating-oil.html

January 2015 Heating Oil futures finally drop below $2/gallon.

 

[Bioburner]

Crude dropped over $2 a barrel today too. Fuel prices here are elevated as there is a shortage in state. Pipeline is busy pumping ND crude south.

 

[F4jock]

Crude dropped over $2 a barrel today too. Fuel prices here are elevated as there is a shortage in state. Pipeline is busy pumping ND crude south.

US crude is at $55.42 /bbl.

 

[dave2112]

I have always had. And always will have 2 ways to heat my house. Incase one breaks. The Lake Effect can really keep you from getting out for parts sometimes. Not to mention my beer freezing and exploding. I can not have that.

 

[woodmakesheat]

5 ways? Oil, wood, several electric space heaters, pellet heat this year and have even used the propane cooking stove in a pinch.

Perhaps I"m obsessive.

 

[lagger]

There is other things that can produce fiber faster than trees. I am interested in a new Canola crushing plant being built near the Canadian border or the oil producing pond scum for oils. With ethanol being produced from industrial beets instead of corn the prices of corn may stay low too.

Another good reason to lift the ban on Hemp production, it can be used for both fiber and oil among other uses (hemp in not psychoactive but got lumped in purposefully to make wood pulp production profitable)

 

[briansol]

i'm using the oil more than i normally would. The hot water radiators get the house up to temp, the pellet stove 'maintains' it for as long as it can.

 

[mass_burner]

i'm using the oil more than i normally would. The hot water radiators get the house up to temp, the pellet stove 'maintains' it for as long as it can.

All this coverage of oil prices gets my wife using the furnace more, argh!

 

[Doug MacIVER]

All this coverage of oil prices gets my wife using the furnace more, argh!

actually told the wife to put the heat on if she was too cold. the way our house is it's takes a good part of the day to get it to 68* from the 4am 60* in family room.. used to use an electric space heater but with the sky electric rates, no more.

 

[TimfromMA]

My son is visiting me from NC and he likes sleeping in the downstairs bedroom. The drop in oil prices comes at a convenient time since the only heat down there is oil. My stove is upstairs.

 

[mass_burner]

actually told the wife to put the heat on if she was too cold. the way our house is it's takes a good part of the day to get it to 68* from the 4am 60* in family room.. used to use an electric space heater but with the sky electric rates, no more.

Most of the day to go up 8 d?

 

[xSpecBx]

I use between 1/2 and 3/4 gallon of oil per day in the summer for hot water (I have an indirect hot water system). I suspect that number increases slightly in the winter as we take warmer showers. I have thought about switching to an electric hot water heater, but I worry, especially with the pellet stove, that leaving the oil boiler idle for so long may cause problems. I'll pay the $500 a year for hot water if it means I don't have to worry about not having the boiler when I need it.

Oil hit $2.46/gal yesterday from my distributor. This time last year I paid $3.67/gal. I'm not going to complain about the price of oil. I'll use the boiler and save the pellets for next year. Right now I'm just using the stove for a few hours when the wife and I get home from work.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

Most of the day to go up 8 d?

stove is a small f100, low burn of two loads from 8pm til 1pm next day. family room thermostat way around corner from the stove. weekends a lot different, weekdays we're both @ work. like to use the bricks in colder weather as they hold the stove at a higher temp for a longer time. have a day