pellets at $300 per ton at what price is oil cheaper

[control1]

With oil dropping like a rock at what price does oil have to be at to be cheaper

 

[Lobstah]

it's pretty much cheaper now...there are a couple of posts already on this.

Jim

 

[j00fek]

300ton=2.50 gal i believe

 

[newpelletstove]

With oil dropping like a rock at what price does oil have to be at to be cheaper

If you figure that a gallon of oil has 140,000 btu, and a pound of pellets has 8,000 btu (check what your brand has), that would mean 320,000 btu per bag. So that means a bag of pellets would replace 2.3 gallons of oil. If you know the price of a gallon of oil, and the price of a bag of pellets, you can compare which is cheaper.

 

[imacman]

I'd say that any price under $2.60/ga/, oil would be cheaper

 

[cac4]

The btu to btu comparison is only accurate if you're replacing ONLY the fuel...i.e. swapping out an oil boiler for a pellet boiler, or an oil furnace for a pellet furnace. Central heating systems lose a chunk of energy in the delivery to the rooms; a stove dumps all of the heat it makes into the living space. Most of the fuel calculators don't account for this; they only consider the burner's efficiency. There was one calculator that someone posted about recently that does factor in both the burner efficiency, and the delivery efficiency. I was only looking at the forced hot air category, but the effective efficiency based on heat delivered to the living space could drop to as much as 50%, with an 80% efficient burner, depending on the amount of insulation in the ducts.

Based on what people report here, as well as some real-life pellet burning friends, I expect to use 3 tons of pellets this season. Historically, I've used 600 gallons of oil. That would make $300/ton pellets equal to $1.50/gallon oil. But I won't really know how it works out until May. And even then...maybe this will be an unusually cold winter...or unusually warm. Just can't say until we've done it for a while.

 

[slls]

$2.62 #2 oil is = to $300 a ton pellets.

 

[Lobstah]

Another thing that enters into the equation (Let's call it the search for the missing COLD!), is that when prices get as high as they did, people start looking for ways to conserve/save, and in doing so, take a variety of actions, like maybe buying a pellet stove. They may also put some more insualtion in an attic, they may check and make sure the doors/windows are closed and sealed, maybe put up some 3M film in rooms that see little use, or just make sure the door to an unused room is closed.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone who posts here, but folks need to keep in mind that it's the SUM of all of those actions.
My own example is our house. This summer we did a kitchen renovation that removed our familiar old, Vermont Castings wood stove from our kitchen. We installed our pellet stove in an adjacent large room (22X28). Many other things were done to the kitchen as well...new cabinets, island, granite, lights, etc. (Did I mention LIGHTS?).
So we're burning pellets...wife says "Man...that stove does a pretty good job!...it's 77deg in the kitchen, and I'm sweating in here!"...and she turns the stove off.
We used to have track lighting in the kitchen. It had 6 fixtures, with 40watt bulbs in each. We now have 13 "cans", each with a 75watt flood. Turn the lights off?...kitchen drops about 5 degrees in a few hours. (Getting my wife to turn the lights off is worthy of a whole new thread).

So my point is just that every home is different, and heating habits are different, and we sometimes don't think of some of the other things we may be doing to make our homes a bit more energy efficient.

As for you folks that are doing nothing different?...that have a4,400sqft house that you spent $15K for HHO last year?...and you're heating it with 1/2ton of pellets this year?

Share some of those secrets, will ya?...cuz I'm actually starting to leave the lights on too, since I never have to look at the power bill, but I DO have to look at my shrinking pile o' pellets

Jim

 

[newpelletstove]

The btu to btu comparison is only accurate if you're replacing ONLY the fuel...i.e. swapping out an oil boiler for a pellet boiler, or an oil furnace for a pellet furnace. Central heating systems lose a chunk of energy in the delivery to the rooms; a stove dumps all of the heat it makes into the living space. Most of the fuel calculators don't account for this; they only consider the burner's efficiency. There was one calculator that someone posted about recently that does factor in both the burner efficiency, and the delivery efficiency. I was only looking at the forced hot air category, but the effective efficiency based on heat delivered to the living space could drop to as much as 50%, with an 80% efficient burner, depending on the amount of insulation in the ducts.

Another thing that enters into the equation (Let's call it the search for the missing COLD!), is that when prices get as high as they did, people start looking for ways to conserve/save, and in doing so, take a variety of actions, like maybe buying a pellet stove. They may also put some more insualtion in an attic, they may check and make sure the doors/windows are closed and sealed, maybe put up some 3M film in rooms that see little use, or just make sure the door to an unused room is closed.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone who posts here, but folks need to keep in mind that it's the SUM of all of those actions.

Good points, guys.