Like many others, my home's primary heat source is an oil furnace installed new in 1996. It is a Coleman Evcon and used the standard Beckett oil burner. Although it has been very reliable, my gripes are that it burns fossil fuel, it only had a 1 speed fan which runs on 110V, and it is very very noisy. My house is 2,700 sq. ft., fully insulated, new doors and windows, 2 stories with a large basement which is where the furnace is located. My wood stove is located in the first floor in the living room. Although my wood stove is not in the most idea location for a supplemental fuel source, I still try my best to burn it 24/7 to reduce my oil consumption. Anyways, I have calculated that I have been burning approximately 2.5 gal per day on average since the middle of October. Does this sound like it is in the ballpark?
Sounds High to me, when was the last time an oil furnace was cleaned serviced? What is the efficiency rating on the furnace? I am assuming it's hot air and not hot water or a boiler. I have a buderus boiler, that runs my hot water and back up for the house. My house is multi-level about 2200 square feet, most of what has vaulted ceiling so the cubic feet is higher. December was cold here and I burn on average a gallon a day for heating hot water and Heat summer and winter. So my oil use is less than 400 gallons a year. I just have a wood stove and my zones thermostats are set to 50. My buderus test it out at 88% efficiency which is weird because oil is supposed to stop around 85 86%. Hope this helps
Is your oil furnace used to provide hot water for the house? You mention a blower, so that would indicate to me that you have forced hot-air with associated duct work. Our oil burner is solely for heating. Our hot water is from a propane water heater. We also have a propane cook top. As such, the oil burner rarely comes on. We have an 1800sq ft, one story house that the wood stove heats nicely. The burner does kick on overnight, but only during real cold nights like we had during the first couple of weeks of 2018. We've used less than 100 gals of fuel oil since topping off the tank in the summer of 2016. We have a 3yr old furnace and the oil burner is a Riello, which I've been told is a decent burner. I'm not a gallons/day kind of guy and offer the above as a data point. Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk
75 gallons a month is roughly another 1/2 cord a month. That actually might not be too bad considering the age of the furnace and what it's efficiency rating might be and depending on how much fuel you are pushing thru the Buck. Assuming thermostats are set at 69/70 during the day.
Thanks for the replies! Yes, my furnace is a forced air unit. It is solely for heating, as the rest of my appliances are electric. I would LOVE to switch it out for natural gas (mainy so I could free up my central chimney for a wood furnace - and vent the gas out the wall) but I'm so far out in the country that we don't have gas ran down the street. I just took a look at my furnace specs - it's a 80.7 AFUE unit rated at 85,000 BTUH. I perform the PM (nozzle and oil filter) before each season but I did have a pro come out to look at it last year. The guy who looked was from a very reputable local HVAC company and I wanted him to ensure the unit was running to maximum efficiency and also to tell me if it was worth it to upgrade. He made some very minor adjustments to the damper and the air intake but overall said it was running like new. He also said it was not worth replacing and that I have many many more years of heating from the unit. I don' know what it is - but there is something about burning diesel fuel (heating oil) that doesn't sit right with me.
As a legitimate firewood hoarder/pyro, it has crossed my mind many many time to unhook the oil furnace from the chimney (matter if pulling off a 5' section if 6" pipe - probably would take 2 minutes) and pipe in a wood stove. Only problem is that I would have to be switching them back and fourth a few time a year when we go out of town. Does anyone do this? Maybe I need to go looking for another fisher The chimney was lined last winter with a proper wood/coal/oil SS insulated liner.
IMO when you are getting down to such small usage of "another" fuel you are chasing pennies for pennies. The factor of other fuel is a necessary evil, for when you are away, HW, supplement when you are not going to be home at night. No matter how much you believe in "free" wood, when you are at a few dollars a day for other fuel, you will easily spend that to make/gather firewood. Also to save that cost by switching between fuels seems to me to be creating a lot of extra work/time which could be used on other things. Agin IMO,YMMV
Really, I agree with ironpony, would I like to be 100% wood, yes, is it an economical choice and still be able to leave for emergencies and family matters. Back up heat is a good option and required to sell a home, where I live. If HHO cost 3 dollars a gallon that's less than 150 a month in costs only for coldest months of year. Personally, I would invest money to upgrade furnace in Insulation and air sealing your home, better return on investment.
At first I thought that 2.5 gallons per day sounded high...but then I did the math...I used to average 5 gallons per day heating a smaller house...and it was still cold in here! I'd say for what it is costing you for a house that size, and the temps we just went through, not bad...IMO, carry on
I just did the math on an oil drop I got last week. From the end of November we burned 4 gallons a day for heat and hot water. Furnace and water heater are two separate units so I don’t know if that uses more or less than a single boiler. Burned about 3/4 of a cord of wood in the same period.
NortheastAl, depends on your setup. I have a boiler and the hot water tank is a Zone off the boiler. There for my furnace which takes about a minute and a half to get to temperature. It doesn't require a whole lot mote fuel to heat a couple extra gallons for the heat then for the water tank. Meaning in the dead of winter I use a gallon and a half of oil a day and in the summer I use a gallon a day, rough estimates. Only really heating basements zones to 45 to protect water lines.
I don’t think I explained it properly, but I have forced hot air heat so the furnace can only provide heat. I also had to heat the basement this year to keep the pipes from freezing. Sounds like you do real well with only having o use a gallon and a half in winter.
Water is more efficient than air. Think about it if you heat water to a hundred eighty degrees and you push it through your Zone it comes back to the furnace at 160 Maybe. Takes less energy to heat from 160 to 180 then it does with air. The downside is if you spring a leak lot more damage
I know that forced air is not great for heating, but I added a humidifier on the unit which helps it to feel warmer. The good thing about forced air is that it heats up the house quickly if the house is cold.
Very true, and your humidifier does a lot less damage that mine when it springs a leak . Also you can add A/C to the ducts! Big advantage. Neither is right or wrong both have drawbacks, My boiler is a Buderus 10 years old and been flawless. I do run it all year (hot domestic water in summer) because it keeps the clay lined brick chimney dry and good working order. Humidity and cracks kill those clay flues overtime. I got 3 girls in house most times so Hot water is always used. My nozzle in Riello burner says it supplies a gallon of fuel every 70 to 90 minutes. It takes less than 2 minutes to get boiler up to temp. No I am not a cheapskate who clicks a stop watch when he hears his furnace kick on. To be fair I also burned almost 2 cord of firewood from November to present.
