Heating oil: how many gallons a winter?

[veek.livejournal.com]

I'm considering moving to an apartment with oil heating. Really not crazy about that, but on balance it might all work out. I've been reading through the heating oil posts, and got a lot of good information from them (thanks, denizens! MassEnergy is definitely on my radar), but am still not sure how much I'd end up paying per winter.

For those with oil heating, how many gallons do you end up using per winter, for how many square feet, and at what average temperature? Or just for this winter, with its crazy temperatures.

ETA: This is, of course, a more complex issue than just square footage and internal temperature! I've done some research, and am doing more. Right now, I'm more interested in local numbers than anything else. :) If you have more variables to share with me in the context of your numbers, I'll be even more grateful!

Comments

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

there are so many more important factors than just whether its oil. Age of furnace, type of heating (forced air?), insulation, and level of the apartment are all going to be much bigger impacts on cost of heating.

All things above being equal, gas and oil are about the same cost (currently oil is a bit more), and a good oil company will make keeping the tank full effortless.

I am in the process of buying a house with an oil furnace so I've done a bit of research and talked to a few people with oil heat (I'd still prefer gas as well, but I don't think oil is something to be fearful of or shunned)

[veek.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know there are more variables than the ones I've named. I think that, still, information I requested would be very useful in orienting myself!

I shun oil heating on general environmentalist principle, but it's not like this particular place would change if someone else took it. At least I can minimize oil usage with clever tricks like electric blankets and space heaters.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Ditto this. Is there any possibility you can get copies (or at least totals) of last winter's utility bills from the current tenants, or other tenants in the building? That's a standard thing to ask for IIRC.

[veek.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've talked about this with the tenant. Right now I'm looking for numbers. Thanks!

[skate97.livejournal.com]

I don't know, we pay about $600/month in the winter for oil, and our friends with comparable apartments and gas pay 1/6 that, maybe.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I'll throw out a number for you.

we live on the second floor of a standard triple decker. this means we have the advantage of "insulation" from the first and third floors. We keep our thermostat set at 58 during the day, with the exception of two hours when we wake up (it goes up to 65), and then from 6pm to 8pm it goes to 65, then down to 58 over night again. On average, we will get one delivery a year (although last year we didn't get one), and it's usually about 100 gallons (so cost depends on cost of oil). We do have a membership to MassEnergy (used to be Mass Oil Consumer Alliance), and this winter we got a new, more energy efficient furnace and had the outside walls insulated. I doubt we used much oil at all this winter because of these improvements.

I have no idea if that is typical or not, but that has been our experience over the past 10 years.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

i forgot to add we are 1054 square feet

[overstim.livejournal.com]

youre lucky because youre on the second floor. ill guarantee the tenants below you use a LOT more oil than that.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Oh absolutely. I would also imagine the third floor pays a ton more, because there is no insulation on our flat/tar roof!

[overstim.livejournal.com]

we have a 2100 sf house, our boiler is sort of new but not very new, our house is sort of insulated but not totally insulated. We do about 150gal a month in the worst of winter.

[soong.livejournal.com]

I live in a 1700 sq ft, 3bd, (top half of a house), 100 year old thing with lame insulation and an oil powered steam system. Worst month last winter was about $400 (at somewhere around $2.75 or $3 per gallon maybe, but my memory is fuzzy on that).

[cheeseydreams.livejournal.com]

How much you'd pay per winter really is dependent on the market and if you lock into a contract/price, which I never do. I order oil as we need it. On average from the past three years, I use about 350 gallons of oil for the winter. The heat stays between 60 and 66. My last fill of the winter/spring generally lasts 6-7 months. I don't know the square footage of my apartment, but it is a 2 bedroom, 5 room 1st floor apartment in a two family home. The furnace doesn't appear to be too old, but I'm not an expert on those things and I believe it's steam/hot water heat - we have radiators.

The biggest contributing factor to our home heating oil use is that it is also our source for hot water - so we try to keep the hot water use to a minimum and any/all leaky faucets get fixed immediately.

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

I'm currently on the first floor of a triple decker, NO insulation whatsoever, about 1000 square feet, we keep the heat no higher than 60 degrees (we freeze all winter) had to get 3 or 4 fill ups last winter with the last fill up costing $600. That's why we are now moving outta there. Previous winters we only filled twice and could stretch a tank for months, this winter it seemed we filled every 6 weeks like clock work.

[inahandbasket]

This was pretty much my experience at my last apartment.
First floor, no insulation, refilled a big tank every 1-2 months at up to $600 per fill, and we had it on a timer to drop at night and mid-day and never had it set above 68.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

i would say: don't.

what a fucking nightmare this was, though that was also due to roommates and previous tenants as well.

if you do, i would STRONGLY suggest getting on a balanced billing plan so you pay the same amount every month. also, i wonder if you can call and find out how much the current tenants are paying (a high and a low)? i always do this when i move someplace with gas/electric to get an idea. it still will differ given people's preferences and because the weather here is crazy, obviously, but it's the best idea given it's the exact space you'll be in. (i didn't do this the one place i lived with oil because i didn't really have a choice where i was moving to so it didn't matter.)

seconded

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I've had several friends experience nightmares with oil heat.

In various ways they all got screwed.

For me, renting means paying for what I use and not having to deal with oil deliveries or having paid for more oil than the time period I live there.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Don't do it man.. it's just not worth it

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yeah, i'll third or fourth the "no, no don't do it" crowd. it's a pita, and you pay through the nose and still end up freezing all winter because you worry about the cost, plus oil is likely more expensive than gas for the same amount of heat.

then again, i think 60 degrees in winter is a ridiculously cold temp to keep a house at. ymmv.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

My story- single family house, about 1500 sf., steam heat, old boiler, decent insulation. Oil cost is probably between $300-400 a month.

Used to have a smaller (1200 sf.) place on second and third floors of a house, decent insulation, gas heat which was about $225 in the coldest month.

In both cases we had/have programmable thermostats (which I highly recommend) at 66-68 in the evenings, and 60 or so in the nighttime.