Oil Heat? (2014, apartments, to rent)

[Adelina51]

We are moving to Rhode Island and are looking at an apartment with oil heat. 900 square foot apartment. How much does oil heat cost per month, and during the winter especially? Never lived in a place with oil heat so not quite sure what to expect.

[mr2448]

Originally Posted by Adelina51

We are moving to Rhode Island and are looking at an apartment with oil heat. 900 square foot apartment. How much does oil heat cost per month, and during the winter especially? Never lived in a place with oil heat so not quite sure what to expect.

the question is usage as oil prices can fluctuate. If it is a newer home and oil is also used to heat the water expect about 600 gallons for the year. Older homes with high ceilings and lesser amounts of insulation could mean 750 gallons a year. We were able to cost average our oil price to about $1.59 per gallon this year. Two years ago that was $3.59 per gallon. Are you sharing oil with other renters? Do you have your own oil burner? Oh yes, we keep our average high temp during the winter at 68 and lower it at night to 64 degrees.

[QuilterChick]

Sounds like they are going to rent a 'tenement' or a unit on separate utilities. 900 sq. ft is not huge, but most likely it could be an older home, probably old windows etc.; and obviously the landlord does not want to provide utilities. I would say: caveat emptor. Get the bills for this past year which was not as bad as winter of 2014. In the winter of 2014 it cost one of my daughters $3,600 to heat a well insulated and well built 1200 sq. ft. home. Yikes. Oil prices due to rise more this year, they are already rising.

[boulevardofdef]

Originally Posted by mr2448

If it is a newer home and oil is also used to heat the water expect about 600 gallons for the year. Older homes with high ceilings and lesser amounts of insulation could mean 750 gallons a year.

This is important to remember -- the energy efficiency of the home has a lot to do with it. I moved from a 18th-century house with high ceilings, terrible insulation and gas heat to a 1960s-vintage house with low ceilings, good insulation and oil heat. The new place is bigger than the old one. The old place was freezing all the time (a big reason why I left; I can't tolerate that) and the new place has been very pleasant for two winters now, yet I pay much less for heat here than I did in the old place.

[ormari]

As a tenant, predicting heating costs is a real crap shoot because usage varies from structure to structure; in a multi-family property it can vary from unit to unit, even after correcting for square footage. For instance, in a three decker setup, the heat from the first floor migrates to the second, and from the second to the third. Insulation in the walls and (allegedly) energy efficient windows won't help as much as you might think because the heat is moving between floors and there isn't likely to be insulation between the floor joists. That's not standard building practice.

To add an anecdote, back when oil prices were sky high, I recall a comparison between a two story single family house and a flat in a three decker. Both dwellings were of similar vintage, neither had insulation in the walls, and both were approximately the same living space square footage. The single family had a smaller foot print than the flat in the triple decker (as viewed from space). The flat used double the oil of the single family home, in spite of the fact it had so called energy efficient windows whereas the single family home did not.

Getting copies of the bills from a previous tenant is next to impossible unless you know the previous tenant. If the landlord didn't pay the bill then they probably won't have reliable information.

Originally Posted by boulevardofdef

I moved from a 18th-century house with high ceilings, terrible insulation and gas heat to a 1960s-vintage house with low ceilings, good insulation and oil heat.

That's super strange to me: I've never seen an 18th century house that had anything but low ceilings. Late 19th century houses of the Victorian era had high ceilings. Is that what you meant, or have I not seen enough 18th century houses?

[Hollytree]

Originally Posted by ormari

That's super strange to me: I've never seen an 18th century house that had anything but low ceilings. Late 19th century houses of the Victorian era had high ceilings. Is that what you meant, or have I not seen enough 18th century houses?

The more opulent mansion-like 18th c houses often had high ceilings- of course then you'd have a fireplace in every room. I've seen them with 10-12 ft ceilings.

To the OP, ask who serviced the apt. last with oil (if the landlord doesn't know then maybe ask one of the other tenants) and then just call that company for an estimate. My wild guess is that in the worst winter months- maybe 2-3 mos- it might cost $150-200 a month for heat.

[boulevardofdef]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

The more opulent mansion-like 18th c houses often had high ceilings- of course then you'd have a fireplace in every room. I've seen them with 10-12 ft ceilings.

And the house did indeed have a fireplace in every room. I wouldn't call it "mansion like," but it was built by a successful ship captain (and alleged slave trader) around 1760. It was subdivided into apartments sometime in the late 19th century -- I lived on the first floor and about a third of the second floor. Another apartment was on two thirds of the second floor and two thirds of the attic (I had a third of the attic for storage, but it was unfinished). There was also a basement apartment, which I did not envy.

My old landlord recently sold it, so here's a photo from a real-estate site. See how much space there is between the top of the door and the ceiling? The house I live in right now has practically no space. Presumably the doors themselves are the same height.

[Hollytree]

Nice house! It is hard to imagine, though, going through a winter with only fireplaces for heat.

But then again, it was common for wealthy RI'ers to have a winter house in Charleston or Savannah. Only took a few days to go down by ship.