Oil bills this winter too hot for me
Dear fellow brownstoners: This was my first winter in my new brownstone, and I learned a lot about heating and heating costs. I don’t have to tell you that oil prices were sky high over the past 8 months. Not only that, but in my case, the boiler which is old but functional, kept breaking…
Dear fellow brownstoners:
This was my first winter in my new brownstone, and I learned a lot about heating and heating costs. I don’t have to tell you that oil prices were sky high over the past 8 months. Not only that, but in my case, the boiler which is old but functional, kept breaking down. I’m told this is due in part to the fact that the tank is 1/2 full of sludge. As a result, I could only fill about 100-150 gallons at a time, and I had to pay close attention, lest the sludge clog my boiler and shut it down. This constant attempt to keep things regulated was pretty sucessful, but I still had about 12 episodes when I had to call a dear neighbor or friend to come by and check out/fix my system.
The long and the short of it is, I am considering all of my options for next winter. Here are the options that I am aware of:
— Clean out the sludge in the tank and see how things go next winter.
— Convert to a gas system.
— Figure out some other, more green option.
No matter what I decided to do, it has to be cost effective, not break down 12 times, and hopefully have some kind of pricing incentive program.
Please share your ideas, suggestions, knowledge.
Thanks so much.
Hi All – Not sure if this conversation is still going. But does anyone have a ball park on how much the conversion from oil to gas would cost? Thanks!
1:33 – No reason to call me idiotic! Play nice. I didn’t say it was a reason not to get gas, and even indicated I would do so.
But in making a decision, some of us have been trained to consider all differences between two options. Then you look at both the frequency of severity of possible outcomes. (Any analyst who thought like this saw the structured bond mortgage mess coming a long time ago – no surprise there.)
Yes, the frequency of gas explosions is rare (I never said it was common). But the serverity is often deadly when it does happen (some of us remember the fatal blowup of a brownstone in Brooklyn a few years back.)
And, just to make the point, it did later happen, just yesterday, in Scarscale – luckily no one was hurt in that one.
http://www.1010wins.com/House-Explodes-in-Scarsdale-after-Gas-Line-Is-Cut/1940171
Yes, use gas, but use it carefully, and no reason to get nasty to those who point out the facts.
Agree with above posts to replace for more efficient burner. To save costs further, you can get a separate hot water heater so the boiler is completely shut down in the off season. We converted to gas two years ago, Keyspan gives some discounts to converting, and our costs have definitely decreased (this was replacing a very old oil boiler, and recently had the whole house insulated with blown-in).
I’ve had both, and have a bias for natural gas. It burns cleaner, doesn’t smell, there’s no spillage, you don’t run out, and you can use it to run your water heater, clothes dryer, stove, oven and outdoor grill for less than the cost of running equivalent electric appliances.
It shouldn’t cost much to have the old tank pumped out and removed – I had an old tank swapped out a few years back and it was 3ish hours of labor + a small carting fee. Not a big deal.
1:00PM’s post about your house blowing up is idiotic. You have a much higher chance of dying crossing the street than by having your house blow up due to a leak in the gas line.
The real reason it isn’t green (and why it costs you so much) is that old boilers are WAY less efficient than new ones, so you end up using WAY more fuel.
It is thus penny-wise and pound-foolish (not to mention NOT green) to keep using an old boiler, for this reason alone.
You didn’t say how old it is – if it is one of those really old ones that are, say, 4 times bigger than the new ones, like my old one was, the difference in fuel use is quite substantial. If it is newer, but sort-of old, you need to do a bit of research on the upgrades in efficiency since yours was manufactured.
You do likely need to replace your old boiler to reap the benefit of less fuel costs. There didn’t use to be much of a price difference between oil and gas – they fluctuated – one year one was higher, then the pendulum would shift. With this never-ending war, and the way the oil companies are using it to increase their profits, the decision now might be in favor of gas for the life of your new boiler (if not forever as oil reserves diminish).
Pros to oil: It’s in a tank. So it isn’t coming in on a line that can leak and blow up. (The buildings always seem to be gas heated.)
Pros to gas: No oily smell emanating from your basement. (If there’s a gas smell, there’s a leak – and you’d best get out and get the gas co there immediately.) Another pro: you can feel you aren’t participating as much in the oil wars.
If I had to clean out a sludgy tank, I’d probably think even more about converting to gas. But you have to realize that, unless you want to leave an unused sludgy tank in your basement (a stupid idea I think), you are still going to have to have the tank cleaned out in order to remove it. Depending on the size of your tank, and the egress from your building, it will likely have to be taken apart for removal. So the sludge needs to be gotten out of it first, I believe. Even if there is sufficient egress, old tanks are used for scrap, I think so it would need to be cleaned up before it could be scrapped.
Also, converting to the high efficieny new boilers can require lining your chimney. I forget if it is the gas or oil ones, but one sort puts out a byproduct that can be a serious problem if your chimney is not lined. Google it up – educate yourself on the differences betwee oil and gas burners – there are some substantial differences.
Hi –
1) Insulate the attic
2) Make sure windows have a good seal and are thermo-pane
3) insulate exterior walls
4) consider gas
5) use a programmable thermostat and turn down at night and when you are not at home
6) More insulation.
Insulation is really the key – comfort is thermodynamics and heat transfer – insulation keeps the toastiness on the inside and there is no substitute.
I totally disagree it’s more “green” to re-use the old oil fueled boiler. Gas is more green, clean and economical. The old boiler can be recycled as scrap metal once it’s removed.
Green=reusing.
Seems to me the simplest, cheapest, most effective solution is to clean the tank.
No one knows what the price of oil will be next winter, but if you do, you can make a fortune on the commodities markets.
Cleaning the tank as the solution tho requires me to believe that you have identified this as the problem by a professional, not just your dear friend and handy neighbor.
Gas bills are very high too