[patience]

I'm unfamiliar with district heating. Could you explain for us?

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', '
')You forgot electricity, heat pumps and best of all, district heating.

[Tyler_JC]

Until quite recently, heating oil was extremely cheap.

In the 1990s, heating oil was cheaper than gasoline which was retailing for around a buck.

The cost to switch over from heating oil to something else can be as high as $10,000 (just making up numbers here).

That's a large investment if you only think you're going to save a few hundred dollars a year.

But now that the price differential has opened up, more people will make the investment to switch over to different fuels.

Back in the 1960s, much of the country's electricity came from oil based power plants. Those are virtually extinct today.

Eventually oil based heat will also be replaced. It just takes a couple years.

[ROCKMAN]

Good point about the burbs cube. But we've been having a townhome/condo building frenzy here in Houston. I wonder if many of those builders thought about "district heating". Not my area but I wonder if such a commercial sized heating/coolings system would make sense economically. These associations already pay big fees for common maintenance, etc. Wonder if it would be a good way to go despite it's contradiction to the common individulistic Texan way of thinking. Let's here from our Yankee cousins: is this a developing trend up north?

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MarkJ', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[ROCKMAN]

Mark -- is it just not economic in the long run or is the big initial cap cost just too much to sell to folks?

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', '.')..Let's here from our Yankee cousins: is this a developing trend up north?

[vtsnowedin]

[quote="Let's here from our Yankee cousins: is this a developing trend up north?[/quote]


Daughter No.1 a graduate student rents an apartment where they are trying to go condo. fifty units ten to a two story building. All get there oil from one underground tank but pay individually for their apartments/condos use. Oil company wont let her lock in a price for this winter because she didnt use enough last year, 250 gal min. The fact that they deliver 1000 gals a week mid winter isn't good enough to call it a bulk rate. vacancy rate is going up so walls that were warm last winter may be cold this year increasing amount of fuel required. She cant switch oil companys, can,t switch fuels, only option is move to another situation. Landlords that have a better option for heat realize their advantage and have already raised their rents accordingly. She will probably stick it out one more winter then get serious about finding somthing better.

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'M')ark -- is it just not economic in the long run or is the big initial cap cost just too much to sell to folks?

[wisconsin_cur]

CNN: Home Heating Crisis Looms

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')EW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home heating bills are expected to soar this winter and Americans, already struggling with high gas and food prices, are bracing for more financial hardship.

On average, consumers are expected to pay $1,182 to heat their homes this year, up 20% from last year, according to recent estimates from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

But the outlook for the Northeast, where 8 million households depend on heating oil, is even more worrisome. Homeowners in the region are expected to spend an average of $2,725 on heating oil this winter.

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]The summertime heating oil bet

Many Northeasterners try to get a jump on heating oil prices by filling their tanks during the late summer and fall months when prices are typically lower. But this year's run-up in crude prices has altered the usual seasonal pattern.

[Mudpuppy]

Just a quick query as to when you all (those that use oil fired central heating) fill your tanks for the winter. Of course it varies from region to region. But it seems the next oil spike maybe caused by a run on certain heavy distillates, with the key demand being for central heating oil in the Northern hemisphere this winter.

Have never lived in an area that used oil fired central heating so have no idea how that all works (as far as how it is filled, and costs, etc).

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mudpuppy', 'J')ust a quick query as to when you all (those that use oil fired central heating) fill your tanks for the winter. Of course it varies from region to region. But it seems the next oil spike maybe caused by a run on certain heavy distillates, with the key demand being for central heating oil in the Northern hemisphere this winter.

Have never lived in an area that used oil fired central heating so have no idea how that all works (as far as how it is filled, and costs, etc).

[Dreamtwister]

When my neighbors go out for dinner...

[MarkJ]

Our Auto-Fill heating oil, kerosene and propane customers keep their tanks topped off year round. Will-Call customers generally fill up when they have money or when they believe prices will rise. Customers that buy from COD oil companies often don't fill up, but are more interested in the lowest cash price and/or lowest minimum delivery.

With an average minimum delivery @ 150 gallons of heating oil & kerosene in some regions, often a lower minimum delivery is more important than a lower price to income or credit challenged customers.

Some people buy kerosene at the pumps in 5 or 6 gallon jugs since they can't afford minimum deliveries. Propane customers often buy and transport smaller cylinders to save on short-charges.

Since oil prices have been declining, there have been a lot of fence sitters waiting for a bottom.

Here's an example of prices and terms in New York.


Home Heating Oil Prices

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', 'W')hen my neighbors go out for dinner...

[lawnchair]

I don't have oil heat, but my uncle and very-elderly grandmother in New Jersey did until last week. Actually, they'd had natural gas for years (stove and domestic hot water), but kept the oil burner. Couldn't justify it any longer. There are companies running around the northeast that do nothing but this conversion all day long. Rural users may stay on oil for a while (where midwestern rural is propane), but where gas is available, oil may be as rare as a coal chute in five years.

[Mudpuppy]

Thanks for your answers. Here in Japan there is almost no central heating (well I think there is in Hokkaido) but people use the small portable kerosene heaters and a delivery man comes on call and fills up the handheld containers that you fill the heaters from. I hate the smell though, and you can`t use them all night long (every year there are deaths from carbon monoxide posionng), so I use my air con for heating instead. Back in New Zealand we just used either log burner stoves (the best) or if the North island, gas on demand heating, but that is more temperate so central heating not required.

Was wondering what the peole who couldn`t afford the minimum amount required do? Interesting.

[Lighthouselantern]

ARE YOU CRAZY ?!?!?!?!?!

If you use oiol heat you are CRAZY!

Electricity is MUCH CHEAPER!

JUST buy an electric heater for each room.


Even propane, you are nuts to run propane.

USE AN ELECTRIC HEATER and leave all your lights on in the house, much cheaper.

lights convert 100% energy into heat, they are great heaters.

[Lighthouselantern]

The advantage to cutting the wires on the central heating thermostat, is that you can have most rooms ice cold and close the doors and heat just one or two with area electric, this saves a ton of money.

[Lighthouselantern]

If I had no money I would get an electric blanket and sleep in a closet.
1 heat lamp would keep it around 50 degrees and the electric blanket would keep you warm shile sleeping. That would be about 1 kilowatt hour or about 7 cents a night.