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replacing buried oil tank or switch to another fuel Steven Stone 06-04-2008
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Posted by Steven Stone on June 4, 2008, 2:47 pm
I live outside of Orange County, Middletown, NY and heat with oil.
The house is 20 years old. The furnace is 4 years old. I decided in
April it might be a good idea to replace the 275 gallon buried oil tank
before it became a problem. I am seeing estimates for the total job of
removing old tank and replacing with an above ground outdoor 330 gal
tank (space issue) of around $4k. That includes a plastic "dog house"
around the new tank.

Budget plan oil delivery cap price for next season is looking to be
around $4.60 per gallon.

Natural gas is not available in my area.

Should I go ahead with tank replacement or have my HVAC guy rip out the
4 year old furnace and change over to another fuel like propane ?
Propane is running about $3.90 per gallon.

Steve

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Posted by on June 4, 2008, 2:58 pm
On Wed, 4 Jun 2008 14:47:21 -0400, Steven Stone

>I live outside of Orange County, Middletown, NY and heat with oil.
>The house is 20 years old. The furnace is 4 years old. I decided in
>April it might be a good idea to replace the 275 gallon buried oil tank
>before it became a problem. I am seeing estimates for the total job of
>removing old tank and replacing with an above ground outdoor 330 gal
>tank (space issue) of around $4k. That includes a plastic "dog house"
>around the new tank.
>
>Budget plan oil delivery cap price for next season is looking to be
>around $4.60 per gallon.
>
>Natural gas is not available in my area.
>
>Should I go ahead with tank replacement or have my HVAC guy rip out the
>4 year old furnace and change over to another fuel like propane ?
>Propane is running about $3.90 per gallon.
>
>Steve


If you stop using the tank, you will have to remove it anyway. Various
fuels see-saw in price advantage pretty regularly. Gas could spike in
price tomorrow, or in 2 months, or in 2 years. You can't really escape
heating costs, except temporarily, by switching fuels in most cases.



Posted by Pipedown on June 4, 2008, 4:29 pm
Can't really compare the price per gallon of propane to oil because each
contains a different amount of heat per unit volume. I believe propane
contains more energy meaning you need to burn less of it to make the same
heating effect (definately true compared to NG but I don't have the specs
for oil). You need to determine the BTU per unit volume (BTU/Gal) and
compare that for each fuel. At least in the short term, it looks like oil
will rise faster than other fuels but in the long term, your guess is as
good as mine.

Propane might be a bit more flexible seeing that you could in a pinch, go
out with a 10 gal tank and fill it at a gas station if you couldn't get a
delivery during a bad weather spell. OTOH, you can buy and store a longer
lasting supply of oil at one time and have more predictable pricing. NG is
usually preferred for no reason better than you don't have to have anything
delivered or stored on site.

I haven't looked but is there a such thing as a multi fuel furnace where you
can switch at will depending on price. That sure would be nice.




>I live outside of Orange County, Middletown, NY and heat with oil.
> The house is 20 years old. The furnace is 4 years old. I decided in
> April it might be a good idea to replace the 275 gallon buried oil tank
> before it became a problem. I am seeing estimates for the total job of
> removing old tank and replacing with an above ground outdoor 330 gal
> tank (space issue) of around $4k. That includes a plastic "dog house"
> around the new tank.
>
> Budget plan oil delivery cap price for next season is looking to be
> around $4.60 per gallon.
>
> Natural gas is not available in my area.
>
> Should I go ahead with tank replacement or have my HVAC guy rip out the
> 4 year old furnace and change over to another fuel like propane ?
> Propane is running about $3.90 per gallon.
>
> Steve



Posted by Jonathan Grobe on June 4, 2008, 4:39 pm
>
> Budget plan oil delivery cap price for next season is looking to be
> around $4.60 per gallon.
>
> Should I go ahead with tank replacement or have my HVAC guy rip out the
> 4 year old furnace and change over to another fuel like propane ?
> Propane is running about $3.90 per gallon.

$3.90 propane is a lot more expensive that $4.60 heating oil.

If a gallon of propane is 91,300 BTU and a gallon of heating oil
is 138,800 BTU, then $3.90 propane is equivolent to $5.93 heating
oil.

Can't you get a heating oil tank and put it in your basement?
I think that would be a lot cheaper.

--
Jonathan Grobe Books
Browse our inventory of thousands of used books at:
http://www.grobebooks.com


Posted by Dimitrios Paskoudniakis on June 4, 2008, 9:30 pm

>>
>> Budget plan oil delivery cap price for next season is looking to be
>> around $4.60 per gallon.
>>
>> Should I go ahead with tank replacement or have my HVAC guy rip out the
>> 4 year old furnace and change over to another fuel like propane ?
>> Propane is running about $3.90 per gallon.
>
> $3.90 propane is a lot more expensive that $4.60 heating oil.
>
> If a gallon of propane is 91,300 BTU and a gallon of heating oil
> is 138,800 BTU, then $3.90 propane is equivolent to $5.93 heating
> oil.
>
> Can't you get a heating oil tank and put it in your basement?
> I think that would be a lot cheaper.
>
> --
> Jonathan Grobe Books
> Browse our inventory of thousands of used books at:
> http://www.grobebooks.com
>

What about a heat pump as primary with oil used only as emergency backup
heat?



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