Analysis Of Costs By Fuel Type

[Henry]

A friend of mine sent me the following comparisons of some of the costs for heating - Quite Interesting Facts

CREDITS:  F. W. Webb Company ­ July 2008 News Letter

1)       #2 fuel oil per (gallon) @ $4.40 per gallon produces 138,690 BTU per hr = $31.73 per million BTU

2)       Electricity (Kilowatt-hour) @ $.13 per KWH produces 3,412 BTU per hr = $38.10 per million BTU

3)       Natural Gas (Therm) @ $2.60 per Therm produces 100,000 BTU per hr = $26.00 per million Btu

4)       Propane (Gallon) @ $2.92 per gallon produces 91,133 BTU per hr = $31.97 per million BTU

5)       Wood (Cord) @ $320.00 per cord produces 22,000,000 BTU per cord = $14.55 per million BTU

6)       Pellets (Ton) @ $240.00 per ton produces 16,500,00 BTU per ton = $14.55 per million BTU

7)       Corn (Kernels) (Ton) @ $190.00 per ton produces 16,5000,000 BTU per ton = $11.52 per million BTU

8)       Kerosene (Gallon) @ $4.80 per gallon produces 135,000 BTU per gallon = $35.56 per million BTU

9)       Coal (Ton) @ $100.00 per ton produces 24,916,000 BTU per ton = $4.01 per million BTU

So what does all of this mean?  If a boiler or furnace operates @ 86% efficiency using #2 oil, the cost to produce one million BTU of heat would be $36.89 at the above cost per gallon.  To determine this, you take the cost per million BTU and divide it by the approximate efficiency of the equipment you are using; you will get the fuel cost per million BTU for the type of equipment you use.  A Geothermal Heat Pump which uses electricity would cost approximately $11.55 per million BTU which actually becomes one of the lowest costs to operate of all systems.  (However, the purchase cost is probably the highest of all systems).

[J Cricket]

Henry,
Thanks for that. Very useful information indeed.
I'm sure that most people are thinking about what they will do this winter, pay for oil or switch to something else. Many folks that I know are switching to pellet stoves to supplement their oil fired unit.

[Loctavious]

Since this thread first started, i've seen AT LEAST 4 different types of stoves being sold on Vt Craigs List.  If people are interested, they could save some real cash with a slightly used stove.

[Mummy]

I was surprised when I called about propane prices.  UltraMar (they changed their name AGAIN) price was $3.76/gallon and Jack Coarse's price was $3.16/gallon.  Guess I will be changing fuel carriers.  Does anyone have experience with "owning" their own tank verus the company giving you one?

[dearon]

We own several propane tanks ( one ( 500 gal) for a back-up generator and 1 100 gal. for cook stoves ) and two large ones at our apts in Georgia. We get contractor pricing from Newton's gas in Colchester.  Their price this week is 2.89 per gallon for us.  Their pre-buy pricing was very attractive this year (speak with Lisa). It has more up front costs but pays for itself within a year or so.

[J Cricket]

Since this thread first started, i've seen AT LEAST 4 different types of stoves being sold on Vt Craigs List.  If people are interested, they could save some real cash with a slightly used stove.

As Mr Durst points out there are some deals to be had. I wonder if we will see an increase in house fires as people who have no previous experience with wood start to make the switch over to save money. Wood is a great way to heat but it does require a certain "know how" that only comes with experience. A two income household that works out all day with no one home to monitor the stove could ( I emphasize "could" as I have faith in most of my fellow humans to do this correctly) lead to disaster in some cases.

[fletchtb]

Mummy,

We switched to Corse's from Liberty three summers ago and have been really happy with their service. We have a 500 gallon underground tank that was owned by Liberty (installed by the previous owners of our house). The deal the previous owners made was to keep Liberty for seven years and then they would remove their tank at no cost to me anytime after that. Prior to that, they would have dug up the tank at my cost.

When we eventually decided to switch from Liberty because we were tired of haggling over price every year (I'm  not sure why they couldn't just give us their best price right off the bat), Corse's was able to buy or trade a tank with Liberty and we kept our existing tank in the ground. Ever since then we have been happy with our service from Corse. Unfortunately for them we have only been getting filled up once a year now that we have a pellet stove.

[Mummy]

Thanks for the information Fletchtb.  Still not sure about the private purchase of the tank or just to go with the companies tank. 
We will be moving over to Jack Coarse ASAP.

We have run the numbers on our current wood stove and price of wood versus a pellet stove at this point.  Other than the convenience (safer) of the pellets in place of wood AND it is cleaner than wood, for us there does not seem to be a savings.  Pellets are going up in price in popularity and to locate them will be an issue.  Over all we have discovered in our research that wood gives off more heat than the pellets.  Because someone is usually home and the start up cost of a new pellet stove is an expense we have decided to go with some wood and lower usage of propane by 125-200 gallons this winter.

 Is there anything we haven't discovered in our research on wood versus pellet?

[fletchtb]

I don't think you're missing anything. I am certainly not trying to preach that pellet stoves are the best solution out there. It was just the best solution for us because of the convenience. As you point out it is a little cleaner. The stove is stopped and started at the touch of a button and temperature is also controlled at the touch of a button (advantage over a wood stove). The startup cost is high for a pellet stove or a wood stove, but the pellet stove can be direct vented, which can make installation a lot cheaper. Wood is definitely more economical if you are harvesting and splitting your own wood. Wood stoves don't require electricty to run, etc...

As far as owning your own propane tank versus the company owning it, I can't really comment as we have never owned our tank. Corse's owns our tank (and I'm not really even sure of the terms to be honest). There was no up front cost to us with them taking ownership of the tank over from Liberty Propane. I would think understanding their terms would be the key to making this decision.

[Loctavious]

be sure to check out Rep Branagan's thread about heating assitance - deadline is 8/31 for anyone needing help, it's an option