Heating oil may be scarce this winter in the Northeast

[Revi]

Heating oil may be scarce this winter in the Northeast. Read this:

http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/peak-heating-oil/2139

[Revi]

Northeast distillates are down 43% from normal levels. That guarantees the price will be up. We are filling our tank this week. We pre-bought, but even so, I am filling because they may not have enough or get into rationing like they did with propane about 5 years ago.

[Revi]

Here's the Nymex futures, and heating oil is actually down today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/

[red maples]

This really doesn't make sense because last year was such a warm winter which was bad for oil companies. If you ask me I think its a scam to make up for lost revenues from last year. You'd think there would be a little more oil around. I don't know. Thank goodness we heat with mostly wood anyway. I use less than 300 gallons for back up heat and hotwater thats it. I have to say though when it costs me $560 to get 150 gallons something is up!!!! and I know its only gonna get higher.

Any new systems that have gone in in the past few years have updated to propane. Even though we have a natural gass lines that run through the area they are for transporting gas oonly and us out here in the "sticks" can't tap into it.

[heus]

Yay Wood!!!

[G&D MapleSurgaring]

I dont understand why they would say that if there is a big abundant of Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale that the companies say that next year the local residents would be able to hook up to the pipes. So there gotta be a good pile of gas anyways.

[delivron]

I just paid 3.68 for 200 gallons for the house. Here in NY we burn the very same fuel as they do in trucks Low Sulfur just colored differently for Home Heating Oil.

[Revi]

All of the distillates are basically the same. We have a practically full tank and 300 gallons pre-bought, so I think we'll be okay. We also have a cord of wood ready. If I need to I can fire up the chainsaw if we need more heat.

[sugaringman85]

burning wood...don't plan on using any oil except when i leave for the night or weekend, used less that 25 gallons last winter. Hope to do the same this year!

[maple flats]

I burn wood, but my 91 yr old mother heats with oil. It would be real hard to heat her home without oil, but I could if absolutely necessary. It would take time away from maple and sleep to do it. I have enough wood cut and split if needed.

[heus]

We use 95% wood and the rare baseboard electric upstairs on really cold nights. Nothing like soaking up the heat next to a hot woodstove.

[red maples]

We actually just had a new oil tank put in a few weeks ago. The guy that installed it said there are so many places are switching the oil burners out for propane natural gas and pellet burners. He was telling me about these new pellet furnaces that are fully automated. Basically they come in and build a pellet bin where your oil tank used to be. A truck comes and fills the bin with pellets and there is a 4" pvc air tube that connects your bin to the pellet burning furnace, boiler what ever and it feeds the furnace automatically. No need to store 4 tons of pellets or picking them up or trying to hunt them down in the spring when everyone stops carrying them for the summer. I have no idea how much these units are probably pretty pricey and I don't even know where there is a pellet distribution center in my area. hopefully they will become more popular in the future when my boiler takes a crap and I need a new one. I would assume though the price of pellets(like everything else) would go up or down the with the oil prices and stockmarket once these things go into the mainstream and are traded publicly. just like everything if there is a demand the price goes up and some money hungry exec. will make a ton of money off it!!!!

[TapME]

We here in the Falls have not used oil for heat in 5 years. Took us some time to get away from it. A timed electric hot water heater saved us 70% of that cost per month. A pellet stove with a large hopper in the right location gives constant heat after thanksgiving and a wood stove helps when it gets real cold. The pellet stove has 5 heat settings but have never had it above 3. The best thing about this is the cost of heating has only been a third of the cost of oil. Any questions please ask

[Revi]

We just switched the back up hot water heater to electric from propane, but we don't use it much as long as the sun is shining because we have solar hot water. We use about half wood and half oil for heating, but we could burn more wood I guess... I like the oil because we can let it heat the house when we're not around. I like the idea of the pellet hopper, but we probably won't get one for a little while. It's the next thing on the list though. Here's our energy saving projects:

http://www.msad54.org/sahs/appliedarts/artlofving/Energysav/index.htm

Click on the pics for more info and a larger pic.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

We actually just had a new oil tank put in a few weeks ago. The guy that installed it said there are so many places are switching the oil burners out for propane natural gas and pellet burners. He was telling me about these new pellet furnaces that are fully automated. Basically they come in and build a pellet bin where your oil tank used to be. A truck comes and fills the bin with pellets and there is a 4" pvc air tube that connects your bin to the pellet burning furnace, boiler what ever and it feeds the furnace automatically. No need to store 4 tons of pellets or picking them up or trying to hunt them down in the spring when everyone stops carrying them for the summer. I have no idea how much these units are probably pretty pricey and I don't even know where there is a pellet distribution center in my area. hopefully they will become more popular in the future when my boiler takes a crap and I need a new one. I would assume though the price of pellets(like everything else) would go up or down the with the oil prices and stockmarket once these things go into the mainstream and are traded publicly. just like everything if there is a demand the price goes up and some money hungry exec. will make a ton of money off it!!!!

6k and are made to adapt right to your existing boiler. Here in VT there is a 1k rebate from the state or fed gov.

heres a couple links
http://www.pellxusa.com/index.html

http://www.heutzpellets.com/burners.htm

this one is a blog
http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/converting-my-oil-boiler-to-wood-pellets.84818/page-2

[Revi]

That pellet boiler is definitely the next step. It will be a bit more like a coal stove, since the fuel is not liquid, but I think it will work.

At least you can spread the ashes around safely unlike coal.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

That pellet boiler is definitely the next step. It will be a bit more like a coal stove, since the fuel is not liquid, but I think it will work.

At least you can spread the ashes around safely unlike coal.
And if any one is smart enough not to out source the pellets to another country I would much rather pay the premium price and keep an American WORKING. I would like to go the pellet route and having a pellet maker with in 30 miles of me couldnt be to bad.

[twitch]

Revi i want to know all about your solar hot water heater. How do you like it does it work in winter? Did you make it buy it?
I think any abled bodied person should be heating with some kind of wood product. From what I here the pellets that are being made in Madison Maine are some of the best burning pellets. i don't have a pellet stove but some freinds of mine do and they have tried everything and say these are the best

[Revi]

We started to make our own solar hot water system, but we were using panels that were from the 70's and wouldn't stop leaking. Now we have a system put in by Energyworks, which has been working for over 7 years now. Yesterday it got over 100 degrees, which is pretty good for late October. We have an electric backup tank, which means we'll be paying more for hot water very soon. These systems work well in the spring, summer and even into the fall, but don't expect much in November and December. It picks up again in February, though. We like it a lot. It sure beats paying for hot water!

[red maples]

speaking of oil / gas / petrolium barrels. just saw a report on how the USA is about to become the top producer of crude oil in the world and we are pumping it out of the ground so rapidly that we will shortly produce more oil than saudi arabia. but yet we have a possible heating oil shortage in the NE. Thats great and all but you know this means higher profits for the oil companies and still high prices at the pumps!!!

[RUSTYBUCKET]

For those interested, the Autumn 2012 issue of Northern Woodlands magazine has an article on pellet boilers.

[TapME]

.A pellet boiler was what I wanted but.... with steam heat it was not a feasible option. Not much can be added to steam. We have a pellet stove and like it very much. Might put in a wood boiler next to the steam plant and do hot air, but that's after other things get done. I like burning the 80-20 pellets . 80% hardwood and the rest soft. The best ones i ever burned were all aspen/ popular. Boy did those burn hot and very clean.
Twitch, I have plans for a do it urself hot water heater and heat exchanger. It's all simple skills that u have.

[Dill]

I just insured a house with a new pellet boiler. Its an Austrian unit sold here through HS Tarm. Slick setup, he's got the 3 ton hopper in the basement and basically a grain bin hookup through the basement wall. Really high tech boiler, it has a computer screen that you can monitor temps, pellet consumption, etc. I'm interested, but I think I'll be putting in an OWB rather than an in house boiler.

[Homestead Maple]

I've looked at some of the HS Tarm boilers and they easily cost $10,000 +. Quality through out I have to say.

[Mark]

I've looked at some of the HS Tarm boilers and they easily cost $10,000 +. Quality through out I have to say.

I wouldn't go without the heat storage tank. Installed the whole package was $22,000.

My brother has a Tarm and I have the Froling, they are now the same company. The Tarm will blow back so bad when you open the door you will never do that again. The Froling has a purge fan that comes on to clear the smoke and I never had it blow back.