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homeowners: how often do they re-fill your oil tank ?

rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Gone through half a tank (couple hundred gallons capacity) in 2 weeks... is that bad for the dead of winter ?
 
Originally posted by: yamahaXS
where do you live?
Click to expand...
Me? NY (Long Island). Natural Gas is also an option here... but conversion costs a few grand... we looked into it at my parents' house.
 
When I had oil, the company would fill the tank for a new customer and then check it after a couple of months.

The company tracks the temperature and knows how much oil a customer uses per degree heating day.
They are pretty good at getting to you when the tank is about 1/4 full.
 
Do the conversion. I think if you crunch the numbers you will be able to recoupe your intial outlay quite quickly. Also natural gas burns cleaner 😀

Cheers,
Aquaman
 
Filled up my 300 gal. tank on November 1st and used half of that so far. And I live in Alaska.

Check for leaks maybe? Or maybe you have neighbors that are stealing your oil? I don't know what your tank is like, but if I had neighbors it wouldn't be hard for someone to come over with some gas cans when I'm not home and just help themselves.
 
Wow oil heat is really that rare in this country? There are about 6 competing companies, 3 of them big, on Long Island alone. Only the last couple of years has there been a push (advertisements/promotions) for natural gas conversion. There are gas lines around though, but a lot of homes on the island are still oil.

About my tank, I gather you're saying I'm using an insane amount of oil so far. That was my main concern, but am unsure since it is Winter and maybe it was normal to use this much. It's been mid-20s or so outside and I've had to keep the thermostat at about 68F about 5 hours of the day, some more, some less the past couple of weeks. Also, there's an electrical plug stemming from the tank's line into the house... the oil guy said it's most likely used to keep the oil in the tank from gel-ling (warm the oil). It's not plugged in... I wonder if that's a factor.
 
Household heating oil is the same thing as diesel fuel, just uses a red dye (untaxed) vs. the blue dye (taxed) at the pump. There's a good chance that someone is ripping you off.

Yes, the plug going into the tank is a heater, and will prevent gelling. But you can also buy an additive for a few bucks that will do the same thing, much cheaper than keeping it plugged in all of the time.

In most areas natural gas/LPG/electric replaced heating oil replaced coal replaced wood (depending on availability of each). Heating oil is rare in new construction these days but was very common 50 years ago or so.
 
Originally posted by: BooneRebel
Household heating oil is the same thing as diesel fuel, just uses a red dye (untaxed) vs. the blue dye (taxed) at the pump. There's a good chance that someone is ripping you off.
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Just great. I'll have to investigate. So tell me... how many gallons is avg to use per month ? Just 2 people in the house and we keep it under 68F for a few hours per day only.
 
Originally posted by: BooneRebel
Household heating oil is the same thing as diesel fuel, just uses a red dye (untaxed) vs. the blue dye (taxed) at the pump. There's a good chance that someone is ripping you off.

Yes, the plug going into the tank is a heater, and will prevent gelling. But you can also buy an additive for a few bucks that will do the same thing, much cheaper than keeping it plugged in all of the time.

In most areas natural gas/LPG/electric replaced heating oil replaced coal replaced wood (depending on availability of each). Heating oil is rare in new construction these days but was very common 50 years ago or so.
Click to expand...


Do they limit how much you can buy?

<---drives a powerstroke
 
Do they limit how much you can buy?

<---drives a powerstroke
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There is a HUGE fine if youa re caught using the red dyed stuff in a motor vehicle.

 
Originally posted by: Evadman
Do they limit how much you can buy?

<---drives a powerstroke
Click to expand...

There is a HUGE fine if youa re caught using the red dyed stuff in a motor vehicle.
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How huge $500 or $10,000. How will they ever catch someone doing such an evil act?😛
 
K-1 Kerosene and #2 home heating oil are exactly the same as #1 and #2 Diesel. The only difference is that red dyes are added for identification to kerosene and home heating oil for highway tax purposes. If you're caught driving with red fuel in your tank you're in for a big fine...

And 50-100 gal a month sounds reasonable. 100 gal a week is way over, you likely have a leak or someone is 'borrowing' from you.
 
Originally posted by: Evadman
Do they limit how much you can buy?

<---drives a powerstroke
Click to expand...

There is a HUGE fine if youa re caught using the red dyed stuff in a motor vehicle.
Click to expand...

how would they find out?
😕

i remember running out of oil in the middle of the night when i used to live hom and going to get a few gallons of diesel to last til the next day.
 
I grew up with an oil furnace. We had 2, 500 gallon tanks and refilled once every 2 years. My father always checked the prices so he could fill up whenever it was cheap. It was usually around $.70 per gallon when he filled up (mid 90's)...how much is it now?
 
every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Sometimes a bit longer, but it's not recommended. Usually around 4 quarts or so will fill 'er up!
 
As PAB told me in a PM, they dip Commercial vehicles to check, but not sure about private vehicles. I guess they could check during a traffic stop. *shrugs*

PAB's latest PM
Evadman: Allright officer, I'll try to drive a little faster next time. I mean, it IS a 'zuk.....
Cop: Just try and keep it above the speed limit. I know its tough with this vehicle, but the state will thank you
*Carbony's F250 drives by*
*Cop sniffs*
Cop: THAT RIG IS BURNING UNTAXED HEATING OIL!!!! *hits mike switch* ALPHA 7 IN PURSUIT OF MOTORIST COMMITING FUEL TAX EVASION ON NORTHBOUND 80! APPROX 2 MPH ABOVE SPEED LIMIT PROCEED WITH CAUTION*
*IRS black helicpoters come up out of the woods and illuminate truck and begin chase*
Click to expand...
Ok, so checks are not likely, but it would suck if you got caught 😉
 
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