Cost of oil heat this winter

[Scriptkitten]

It's awful. We have two levels. 3600 sq ft but I only really heat about 1800 regularly.

We keep it at 55 at night and like 63 during the day when we are home. Paying about $600 every 5 weeks

[Allharv]

I moved in only about 6 months ago, so from fillups so far, 10/29/13 to 2/22/14 (116 days), we've used 635.3 gallons, or 5.477 gallons/day. More recently in January, it's been closer to 6.5 gallons/day. We use oil for heat and hot water.

This is a 3100 sq. ft. 3 story home, but one where about half of the time we kept at 60 overnight and 65 during the day in just one zone (first floor or master bedroom). After we had a baby, we've kept things at 70 consistently in one zone, and heater off or at 50 degrees for the other parts. Occasional use of a space heater or vaporizing humidifier which added some heat. Masssave audit suggested no areas for improvement in terms of windows or insulation. The newer parts of the home had standard 2000s fiberglass insulation, and the older parts of the home still had 2.5-3 inch thick foil backed fiberglass to which the guy said they wouldn't be able to add anymore insulation.

From our discussions going on in other threads, it seems like many of us are thinking about changing to gas, and I hope my neighbors feel the same way.

[Hickory patrick]

sure glad im Natural gas here... reading your post and seeing a lot of you set your heat at low 60s and that's your high end... me and my wife work different shifts so our furnace is always between 69 and 71* and the last bill was $180... and im weighting for the next ''Read bill'', I replaced my furnace last month, going from a 80% efficient 20 year old furnace , To now 96% efficient 2 stage furnace .. want to see the difference .....

[Louisville Slugger]

I had an electrician come out to add an outlet under the sink for the new insinkerator and move the stove outlet down so I could push the stove all the way up against the wall. We started talking about my old electric baseboards. I am sure they're 20+ years old. He recommended I replace them. I know all the energy used to heat the element is not lost so they're basically 100% efficient, correct? But do the new ones use less power to provide a consistent heat? I wonder if I would notice a difference. Maybe in the largest rooms I would.

Would the new hydronic electric baseboards make a difference? I don't think there's a gas line on my street and structurally modifying anything would probably be prohibited by HOA.

Anything to reduce my electric bill would be nice. Now the electrician was referred to me by a good friend of mine so I trust him, but I don't know if I'll ever see the cost savings by replacing these baseboards. He did say if I need any help replacing him to let him know.

[Ninotchka P]

We used 916 gallons this winter (Oct - Apr), totaling $3554.

Just put in another 150 gallons yesterday for hot water over the summer, so annually we're at just about 1000 gallons totaling $4117.

2400 sq ft, two story, 12 year old, so decently insulated, plus finished basement brings it up to 3300 sq ft.

By the way, the prior year was $3402 annual cost. Quite an increase.

One zone per floor: on the main floor 64 at night, 66-68 morning, evening and weekends, and 62 during weekdays. Upstairs and basement about 2-4 degrees cooler at all times.