Heating Oil Prices - 2008?
- coal-cooker
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A guy a work was telling me yesterday that his oil company quoted him $4.24 to lock in this week. What will it be by August or September???
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Freddy,
I would guess that around 70% of Canadian homes are heated with oil, although many people have wood supplementary heat in the rural and smalltown areas. The outdoor wood boilers are very popular in the country. Natural gas is available in cities and a few rural areas along a pipeline, not many rural folks can access it. Propane is kind of a "trailer trash" alternative that costs as much or more than oil. So oil rules the roost at present.
I would guess that around 70% of Canadian homes are heated with oil, although many people have wood supplementary heat in the rural and smalltown areas. The outdoor wood boilers are very popular in the country. Natural gas is available in cities and a few rural areas along a pipeline, not many rural folks can access it. Propane is kind of a "trailer trash" alternative that costs as much or more than oil. So oil rules the roost at present.
- Freddy
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Coal Jockey, That's exactly how it is here. In 1972 when I first got out of high school I did construction for a while. All of those houses got electric heat! They have all long ago been converted to anything else.
- LsFarm
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Why is propane considered less desireable than oil?? It is similar to oil in price, and is truck-delivered just like oil. /??? Personally I'd rather burn propane than oil.. I hate the stink of heating oil... one little spill in the basement when servicing the burner and your house stinks for months.Coal Jockey wrote:Freddy,
I would guess that around 70% of Canadian homes are heated with oil, although many people have wood supplementary heat in the rural and smalltown areas. The outdoor wood boilers are very popular in the country. Natural gas is available in cities and a few rural areas along a pipeline, not many rural folks can access it. Propane is kind of a "trailer trash" alternative that costs as much or more than oil. So oil rules the roost at present.
My place was converted from oil to gas before I bought it, ... Hmm, I wonder if there is any oil still in the buried tank?? It will run in my diesel tractors... guess I'd better find the tanks..
Greg L
- Freddy
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I've always thought that propane was less desireable because of the price. Up here it'll run you about 20% more to burn propane. BUT... it has it place. I have a propane furnace at my camp. I use about 30 gallons a year, to bring the place up to temp while the wood fire is getting going, to kick in early mornings if the fire goes out. Pretty much zero maintenance, works well for me.
Oil smell? They make several different products that can be found at wholesale burner places. "Sweet Air Powder" is one. Mop up what you can, sprinkle on some powder and it honestly does work. I h-a-t-e HATE the smell of oil. I wear rubber gloves whenever I need to mess with it.
Underground oil tanks? I thought the nation had eleminated them. Geepers, it's been 15 yrs since the state clamped down hard. Every single one was dug up and either done away with, or replaced with double wall with leak sensors. They had programs to help the poor. At the end of it, you could get it done for free if you whined enough. They threatened heavy fines for those that didn't comply.
Oil smell? They make several different products that can be found at wholesale burner places. "Sweet Air Powder" is one. Mop up what you can, sprinkle on some powder and it honestly does work. I h-a-t-e HATE the smell of oil. I wear rubber gloves whenever I need to mess with it.
Underground oil tanks? I thought the nation had eleminated them. Geepers, it's been 15 yrs since the state clamped down hard. Every single one was dug up and either done away with, or replaced with double wall with leak sensors. They had programs to help the poor. At the end of it, you could get it done for free if you whined enough. They threatened heavy fines for those that didn't comply.
- LsFarm
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This is an old place,, no oil deliveries for probably 20 years.. and everything has been done by the homeowners.. So I doubt that the tank was dug up. But I really don't know,, I need to try to find it.. I don't even know where the septic tanks are, thankfully they only handle the bathrooms,, the laundry goes into a cistern. So the septic field should last a long, long time..
I think the tank is burried next to the house, under a fairly recent deck that was here when I bought this money-pit. So I'm not going to pull up boards to find it... I'm probably going to see what comes out of the capped off oil line in the basement...
Greg L
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I think the tank is burried next to the house, under a fairly recent deck that was here when I bought this money-pit. So I'm not going to pull up boards to find it... I'm probably going to see what comes out of the capped off oil line in the basement...
Greg L
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- Richard S.
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Don't know what the comparisons are now but that's not the case around here even recently.LsFarm wrote: Why is propane considered less desireable than oil?? It is similar to oil in price, and is truck-delivered just like oil. /???
- coaledsweat
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[quote="LsFarm]Why is propane considered less desireable than oil?? [/quote]
An oil leak is just a mess, a gas or propane leak could send you to moon.
An oil leak is just a mess, a gas or propane leak could send you to moon.
- Rob R.
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There must be a vent and filler pipe visible somewhere? In any case, it is a good idea to try find out where it is. The last thing you want to do is find the tank by accident. I collapsed an old septic tank once with a large front-end loader, no one knew it was there.LsFarm wrote:This is an old place,, no oil deliveries for probably 20 years.. and everything has been done by the homeowners.. So I doubt that the tank was dug up. But I really don't know,, I need to try to find it.. I don't even know where the septic tanks are, thankfully they only handle the bathrooms,, the laundry goes into a cistern. So the septic field should last a long, long time..
I think the tank is burried next to the house, under a fairly recent deck that was here when I bought this money-pit. So I'm not going to pull up boards to find it... I'm probably going to see what comes out of the capped off oil line in the basement...
Greg L
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-Robert
- LsFarm
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Almost all the services and outside mechanicals for this old place are a mystery.. I have three septic systems.. one I installed, so I know where it is, the other two, I can see where the soil pipe exits the house,, and that's it.. both appear to be under driveway pavement !!
It's so much fun living in and maintaining an old place...
Greg L
It's so much fun living in and maintaining an old place...
Greg L
- Freddy
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My sister & her hubby bought an old place year & years ago. After many years the septic gave grief & they had it dug up for repair/replacement. They found..... and Lord knows who did it because the previous owner denied it.... an old car was buried. It was tank & leach field all in one, the sewer pipe stuffed in through the vent window.