heating oil - how much $$ per month?

[bob4432]

i live in phx, az, so i am not familiar w/ heating oil or its prices. last night i had cnn on while i was falling asleep and they said something about the heating oil prices and that people back east, like in ma, va, etc may be paying ~$1800/mo for heating?

did cnn get this wrong or is it that expensive to heat back east?

 

[DrPizza]

That's rather high. They may have meant $1800 for the winter - but that's actually on the low end for the NE, but not unreasonable.

 

[jlee]

We're paying almost $600/mo- so well over $3k/yr now. Unfortunately, we locked in a price just before the market tanked...

VA..? They need heat down there?

 

[NoShangriLa]

You guys might want to look into air to air heatpumps that directly put inplace of gas/oil furnace (the heatpumps would be slightly undersize for the existing duct work) because the saving would be realize in a few years.

 

[Jeff7]

I don't know what it is for oil, but I peaked at around $200/month for natural gas heating last winter. If the age of the rest of the building is any indication, the furnace was probably hand-carved from solid rock, with an efficiency rating of around UNGAH! percent.

 

[bob4432]

i remember it correctly, they did say that amount per month, actually waked me up because i was like "oh shit, man, i feel for those people". but again, it was cnn and sometimes they don't have their fact lined up or since it is the "fear mongering" time, it could have been inflated amounts to keep the fear going....but thanks for the info.

man, and i thought i had it bad w/ my electric bills out here in the summer, i will shut up about them now since i can now keep them under $170 at peak, i do get a bit warm during the days, but that is ok and beats 3-400 bills.

 

[spaceman]

depends on the months and the size of the house.
a really cold month people could use 300 gallons in a larger home...so north of $1000
we have a small house and im expecting to use about 150 gallons per month in jan/feb.

 

[Spineshank]

It also depends a lot on what temp people keep their place at. I keep mine at 68 just to cut down on the oil.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I had heard that for the winter, the avg home was going to spend $3.9k up from $3k in oil.

 

[murphy55d]

You know, one of the guys I carpool with was talking about filling up his oil tank(we live in PA), I asked him how long a tank of oil would last, and basically he told me he'd have to fill it up a few times over the winter(two or three times), and he keeps his house at 64 degrees! He then couldn't understand why I pay $130/mo year round for my natural gas. (our gas company offers that, to avoid the high winter bills) Couldn't quite grasp that I get to keep my house at 70-71 and pay far less than he does, when he only keeps his thermostat at like 64.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: murphy55d
You know, one of the guys I carpool with was talking about filling up his oil tank(we live in PA), I asked him how long a tank of oil would last, and basically he told me he'd have to fill it up a few times over the winter(two or three times), and he keeps his house at 64 degrees! He then couldn't understand why I pay $130/mo year round for my natural gas. (our gas company offers that, to avoid the high winter bills) Couldn't quite grasp that I get to keep my house at 70-71 and pay far less than he does, when he only keeps his thermostat at like 64.

That's now. Over time, history shows that it's been cheaper to heat your home with oil over gas.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: murphy55d
You know, one of the guys I carpool with was talking about filling up his oil tank(we live in PA), I asked him how long a tank of oil would last, and basically he told me he'd have to fill it up a few times over the winter(two or three times), and he keeps his house at 64 degrees! He then couldn't understand why I pay $130/mo year round for my natural gas. (our gas company offers that, to avoid the high winter bills) Couldn't quite grasp that I get to keep my house at 70-71 and pay far less than he does, when he only keeps his thermostat at like 64.

That's now. Over time, history shows that it's been cheaper to heat your home with oil over gas.

Definitely not now, if his heating bill is any indication.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: murphy55d

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: murphy55d
You know, one of the guys I carpool with was talking about filling up his oil tank(we live in PA), I asked him how long a tank of oil would last, and basically he told me he'd have to fill it up a few times over the winter(two or three times), and he keeps his house at 64 degrees! He then couldn't understand why I pay $130/mo year round for my natural gas. (our gas company offers that, to avoid the high winter bills) Couldn't quite grasp that I get to keep my house at 70-71 and pay far less than he does, when he only keeps his thermostat at like 64.

That's now. Over time, history shows that it's been cheaper to heat your home with oil over gas.

Definitely not now, if his heating bill is any indication.

Do a little research and you'll find your example of one doesn't equate to reality.

Also there are many other influencing factors, does this other homeowner have a furnace with a comparable efficiency, home as well insulated, same square footage to heat, windows that provide the same insulating properties, etc?