Now That Heating Oil is $6.00/gal in New England, How Many People Are Changing Over to Wood Pellets?

Most likely

 

A couple of reasons:

Demand is up, supply is low (end of season),
--
Refinery plant maintenance (turn-arounds) have been happening Jan '22 - May '22, reducing output,
Conflict w/ Russia (sanctions) has reduced (HHO/Diesel) imports to the US.
It's what the market will bear. FWIW, the local fuel oil / delivery company isn't making a 'windfall profit' here. Just bearing the costs, like the rest of us.
--
Upcoming sanctions by the EU: scheduled to start this May '22 ... will likely only add to this misery. (Supply/Demand).

^^ Edit: Necessary misery. Russia's own former & current economic ministers have stated that sanctioning Russian oil .. is the quickest way to 'disengage' Russian troops from Ukraine.

Seriously considering a (cold-temp rated) mini-split system to augment the pellet stoves here. (*) And tuning up the chainsaw: plenty of wood on the property.

 

CleanFire That is an exceptionally well written response and very informative.

I guess my comment was a little tongue-in-cheek, because rednecks like me, happen to know guys with hundred gallon transfer tanks in the back of the pick up. And would solve the problem

 

I hear 'ya Canadian border VT - been purchasing off-road Diesel in 25 gal. runs ( 5 x 5 gal. cans ) for years now, to keep the 'Dino Burner' happy. Costs less vs. Dealer / delivery.

 

May 2020 Derry, NH


sam

 

That sure Trumps today's "chituation"

 

I agree with you. I am very concerned how people are going to heat their homes next winter.
It was only as recently as Summer 2020, that heating oil was as low as $1.53/gal. in New England.
I have been checking www.NewEnglandOil.com every week and keeping records since 2020.

 

Saw a post on the NH Reddit that heating oil went up to $6.50/gal.

sam

 

I haven't put oil in my tank for a couple of years but it's down to 1/4 so I should have had the brains to fill it last winter. Sadly money was tight and it just didn't get done. My local oil company now has a 50 gallon minimum instead of 100. I may have to take them up on that deal. I usually use less than 1/4 tank a season. My wife will turn the furnace on if she needs the spare bedroom warm. I would like to ask how much higher could it possibly get but that is a dangerous question!

 

On my way to Nashua from Kingston on Sat, all the gas stations on Rt 111 were $4.19 for regular . In Hudson & Nashua it was $4.49. Diesel up over $6 as well.

sam

 

I use pellets for DHW.

 

Hello
I changed over to wood pellets years ago for heat
with a Harman P61a to heat the house, a Harman P61a to heat the garage. A Harman Advance to heat the workshop and a Quadrafire Contour to heat the shed, then 3 years ago I purchased the Home Depot EcoSmart DHW to change the DHW infrastructure for switching from the Buderus Boiler SuperStor oil fed 40 gallon hot water tank to On Demand Electric but still using the 40 gallon SuperStor warmed to 80 Degrees by being next to the Harman P61a all night. Therefore the EcoSmart only has to heat the 40 Gallon tank from 80 Deg to 135 Deg for the morning showers.
Therefore I had to upgrade the home 100 amp circuit panel to 200 amp and then run a 125 amp sub panel for the 3-40 amp 240 VAC breakers to run electric EcoSmart until Covid hit and the Oil dropped to $1.65 per gallon so I switched back to oil!
Saturday when a neighbor told me oil hit $6.00 per gallon, I imeadiately switched back to the EcoSmart On Demand Electric. I have a little less than 1/2 of a tank of oil left. (275 gallon tank) so I will save it for now. I paid $2.79 per gallon last October for approximately 100 gallons.
See my valve crossover pipe diagram below

 

When ours poops out I'll replace it with one as well. We do get a reduced rate on the HWH however. Propane here us real stable, hasn't went up or down. Been hanging at $2.60 per gallon. I'm full though. Have about 1200 gallons in the bottles.

Plenty for next winter with some left over. I'll use less this year with a biomass stove in the shop now. Was going to sell my Facebook Marketplace rebuild but instead decided to put it in the shop and now I'm glad I did. I'll probably run it all the time in the winter on low fire and kick it up when I need to be in there working. Shop and tractor garage are well insulated but they have PEX in floor heat, propane fired and it still takes a lot of propane to keep the slab warm. I'll miss the warm floors though, nothing beats working under a machine on a warm floor. I usually burn at least 500 gallons every winter.

 

Curious as to what brand you have and the gallon capacity.

 

Those days are gone ....

I just bought 500 gallons of farm diesel and it was over $2000 bucks and that is maybe enough to last till fall harvest. My diesel pickup truck is in the garage and not going anywhere soon. I'll be conserving this year. No excessive idling to keep the cabs cold, abbreviated warm up's and I'll be leaving equipment in the field instead of coming home with it when the sun goes down. My wife can fetch me with her little car.

All I can say is you'd better vote wisely.

Because I'm a commercial forage grower and sell privately, I've had to up my prices substantially just to break even. Glad my customers understand. If I didn't, I'd be out of business, plain and simple.

 

There are going to be a lot of people that will have to make some very hard choices next fall and winter when it gets cold. I would not want to ever be in that situation where I had to choose between eating and purchasing fuel to heat my home or fuel my car. Terrible times are coming for a lot of folks, especially low income ones and people on fixed incomes.

 

Maybe grabbing a few jerry cans of diesel would get you through till prices drop a bit.
Sca

 

Let’s face it it’s “catch up time” and I don’t mean ketchup as in tomato type! Prices will NEVER be what they were even a year ago! And you can take that to the bank! We’ve all lived in pretty good economic times in the past, but, NO MORE!

 

Disagree Mr. B when this economy crashes, prices will drop.. Economy has to go down at these fuel prices. As every thing is shipped in trucks, especially food.