Last year, I had some trouble with my heating oil delivery company. They were waiting until my tank was out of oil before they delivered more. Two bad things happened because of this: 1) The oil would get so low that the sludge at the bottom of the oil tank would get sucked into the fuel line and clog it. 2) They would be delivering so much oil at once, my bill was over twelve hundred dollars. I called them to arrange more frequent deliveries.
I know that it’s in their interest to take as long as possible between deliveries. If they pay a guy to drive a truck to my house to put ten gallons of oil in the tank, they’ve not used their workforce efficiently. But it’s also in their interest to keep me happy by not waiting until my tank is empty before making a delivery. If I’m not happy, I’ll switch to another oil company. It’s easy as pie… I just call them to cancel, and call a new place to start deliveries. I don’t have to drive anywhere or anything.
I haven’t had an oil delivery since the first one of the season way back in October. When I got my new oil tank for my home heating system, it came with a built-in fuel gauge. The gauge says I’m at the halfway point. I think that’s more than enough to make their delivery worth it. Heck- this year, half a tank may very well be over a thousand dollars. I’m calling them today.
That is a very cool gauge.
So, if you have scheduled more frequent deliveries, do they go by a calendar or does someone come inside to check the level of oil or is there a sensor like we have? (Water and/or gas – I can’t remember. I think they can just check our meters by driving around, now.) Hop to it, oil people! Max needs heat!
They deliver oil according to a schedule marked on their calendar. They were supposed to deliver once a month, or every six weeks, or something like that.
This feels like a word problem from a math book:
“If Brad and Max use about $1000-worth of oil over a three month period (October, Novemebr, December), how much cheaper would it be for them to switch to gas or electric heat instead?” (Seriously…our monthly bills for all utilities but phone are $243…but, it’s a brick home, too…)
Based on our weather and temps so far, though, you might be able to get by a little longer this winter than some we’ve had. I fear w won’t see many snow days this season (sniff…).
My oil company would deliver based on the number of degree days since we last filled your tank. After our first trip we would also look at your OC/DD (oil consumed per degree day — for those of you who don’t have pretend oil companies).
Then we would devise efficient daily routes for our drivers that minimized the number of left turns that they had to make.
Dang, you’ve used a 1/2 a tank of oil just since October? It hasn’t really been that cold, has it?
What would happen if you filled 1/2 the tank with Canola, or Olive Oil?
It hasn’t been that cold, but once I turn on the boiler, it runs constantly. Even if the water isn’t circulating, the boiler keeps the water at a certain temperature. Plus, the boiler is connected to my water heater, so any time I use the hot water, the boiler turns on. I did try space heaters one winter. It was not a viable option. It was COLD. And the electric bill was still HUGE.
My house is a model of inefficiency. But at least now you can see why new windows would be a massive waste of money: it wouldn’t matter in the least: my boiler would burn away all my money anyway.