Fuel Oil Sucks

[mrswebchik]

Just for the record. It does. We live in an 80yo house with a furnace that runs on fuel oil/furnace oil. Our income is too high to get traditional assistance in general. Our credit is too poor to qualify for getting the 550 gallon tank filled and then pay it over the course of the year. The minimum delivery we can get for our house is 125 gallons,

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Ugh, that sucks. We have a 99 year old house so I definitely hear you on drafty old houses and how hard it can be to keep them warm. I bought that caulking clay stuff at the hardware store this year and used it on all our windows, and on the side door that is incredibly drafty plus we never open. 3M also sells kits of clear plastic shrinkwrap stuff that you can put up around windows, though we haven't used that. I also know people who've hung blankets up over windows to increase the insulation.

I also know people who turn their heat WAY down at night, to 55 or so, and use a space heater in each bedroom to stay comfortable. I bought a small space heater at Target this winter and it was only $15. Electric heaters are much less efficient than an oil heater but there's the advantage that you can use them to heat a very small space.

Does the gas station sell fuel oil? Or do you put gas in your heater? I am completely clueless about oil-based heating as I've never had anything but natural gas.

[mrswebchik]

The gas station (BP, owned by Amoco) sells furnace oil (which is an off-road diesel fuel). Since we rent, there's not a whole lot we can really do to the house. And it has these HUGE windows all around which are awesome for sun, but suck for heat (literally). We did replace and seal the basement windows off. We got a price for bringing natural gas to the house (we're surrounded by new development, a line goes past the house, I don't know *why* the owner didn't bring it back when he re-did the well and other things here). It's cheaper to get a gas line run to the house than it would to fill the tank. But we rent, so we have to see what we can do about it. Hoping to buy at some point, we'll see what happens. Thanks for the sympathy! I am just sick and tired of budgeting heat. It's stupid. Another friend read this and msgd me about possibly getting furnace oil for 1/2 the cost at the pump. So hopefully that works out soon!

[naomikritzer]

Caulking cord can be used in a rental house. Check it out. Basically it's a rope of clay-like stuff that's been formed into cords. You kind of unwind a length of it, and then cram it into the cracks around your window where the cold air is blowing in. Come spring, you just peel it off, ball it up, and throw it away. It doesn't dry and won't damage paint. It's CHEAP. You should be able to get it at a hardware store, or Lowe's/Home Depot/Menard's. You can use huge chunks of it to plug big gaps. It works REALLY WELL and it doesn't take long at all to put it in -- I took a roll and did our whole house in an hour, IIRC. I had never done it before this year and now I'm kicking myself, because our house is noticeably warmer, especially on really cold days.

The 3M shrinkwrap would also be usable in a rental.