Home heating oil

[goddessfarmer]

On 10/02/01 the tank was filled.
on 11/10/03 the tank was topped off with 102.9 Gal
on 10/17/06 (today) we purchased 134.5 gal to fill the tank.
Firewood may be hard work, but I'm happy with it.

Comments

[quietann.livejournal.com]

(also we'd have no hot water if we didn't use the boiler...)

Prophet without honor...

[chocorua.livejournal.com]

If you'd put in a solar hot water system with gas tankless backup in 2001, it would already have paid back half the investment on a straight avoided cost basis, without considering where the oil profits go, or what the CO2 does. I've been preaching and practicing this for 14 years, but I'm clearly not out of the wilderness.

Details and other free advice available on request...

Re: Prophet without honor...

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Well, things move slowly with Ben, you know :)

Actually, how would the south-facing roof of the *house* do for solar panels? I think you're right about the barn -- too much shadowing, especially with the beech tree (which I don't want to give up).

Also, gas is right out. No gas pipes here, and Ben absolutely will not have a tank installed. Things that go boom ain't fun. Would it be possible to keep the oil tank and boiler as backup for the solar? And any chance of there being a way to connect the solar part to the forced-hot-water heating system?

Re: Prophet without honor...

[chocorua.livejournal.com]

The south roof of your house looked like an excellent solar hot water location to me, but you'd have a better idea how it lies relative to the sun, being there all the time.

Most of the benefit of gas tankless is that it only heats as needed, rather than keep a big thermal mass hot 24/7/365 like a tank heater or your oil furnace. You can get tankless electric, but the economics are not so good. I am not aware of any tankless oil units. We use solar as pre-heat for our gas tankless, so it doesn't run much in the summer, and not as much as it would otherwise in the winter.

You can always locate the propane tank well away from the house, or underground. Yes, a gas leak in the house may blow it up, but a serious oil tank leak generally leaves you with a demolished house and your own personal brownfields site.