Heating Costs

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 7:06 am

I did the math and to heat my older 4 bedroom colonial in October cost me $55.00. Not too bad. If November continues to be mild it will not cost much more.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 9:50 am

Did you do any record keeping on actual degree-days?? This is the only way to really compare..

Your weather could have been much milder than normal,, or colder..

I used about one ton in October, but I heat a 4100sqft old farmhouse and a 2400 sqft shop.. and we had at least 8 nights of below 30* weather.. as well as 20 or so days cooler than 50*.. so I'm about right ... the propane would have been $500+. Even at it's fairly low price of $1.80/gallon..

Maybe Yanche can post the formula for tracking degree days.. or where we can find that info..

68* today,, I'm going to work on the roof and doors for the coal storage building [aka coal bin].

Greg L.

Devil505 · Post by **Devil505** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 9:52 am

All I know is ....with 60* days here in the NE for a week....In November...It's to damned warm!

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 9:58 am

Dev, go out and enjoy it.. it will be winter all too soon..
Thankfully I have good weather for the one day I'm home this week.. so I can prepare more for winter..

Greg L.

Adamiscold · Post by **Adamiscold** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 10:22 am

Devil505 wrote:All I know is ....with 60* days here in the NE for a week....In November...It's to damned warm!

I had hornets out side my door yesterday and even today with the rain I saw a couple of mosquitoes, it's November! Not that I'm complaining mind you I wont have our chimney installed until the 21st so I'll take all the good weather that we can get.

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 10:38 am

Yeah: I'm the total nerd. This year I'm tracking how many bags used (50lb. bags), the daily highs and lows and the date that I empty the ash pan. My pan is a little larger than last year and the Kimmels coal has less ash and more heat then my dealer's coal. I'm so glad I went with bagged. Anyway, I'll post my tracking document when I get a real month of cold weather. I live on Long Island and the temps have been mild. We had a few night around 30 but most are in the 40's. All in all a ton is awesome for all that you're heating. We're saving a bundle.

Horace · Post by **Horace** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 4:39 pm

LsFarm wrote:Did you do any record keeping on actual degree-days?? This is the only way to really compare..

Your weather could have been much milder than normal,, or colder...

Good site for finding historical temperatures in your area. I like it because you can download the info in a comma-delimited file and then import it into Access.

http://www.wunderground.com

Enter your zip at the top. Under current conditions (where the radar map is) is a link marked "Weather History for this Location." After clicking on that, click on the tab marked "Yearly." You can grab all the days for the past 12 months.

Machinist · Post by **Machinist** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 4:56 pm

Horace wrote:http://www.wunderground.com

Nice! Even lists heating degree days!
Thanks!

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 5:40 pm

The best site to get degree days for most locations is http://www.degreedays.net

DegreeDays.net calculates its degree days using temperature data from the Weather Underground. You should be able to find a weather station near your home. Use the search feature. Many private weather collection sites are included in the Weather Underground database. I found one 5 miles from my home. Note there is a base temperature (65 deg. F) to reference your degree data. However, it's not the best reference temperature for modern well insulated homes. The best reference temperature for your home is that degree day temperature when your home does not need any heat. Historically it's been 65 deg. F., but for modern, well insulated homes, the base temperature will be lower.

Using degree days to predict heating fuel consumption is possible but is far to complicated to explain in this posting. There is also a cooling degree day use for cooling energy calculations.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 6:51 pm

Our local newspaper lists yesterdays degree days each day. Handy!

NEPANewb · Post by **NEPANewb** » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 10:16 am

Machinist wrote:
Horace wrote:http://www.wunderground.com
Nice! Even lists heating degree days!
Thanks!

Yeah..I'm a big fan of wunderground as well...they seem to always have the most accurate forecasts for my area and a WEALTH of detailed information if you looking for it.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 10:28 am

i go by days per truckload

I got 2800 lbs of buckwheat oct 21st and I have about 500 lbs in the bin yet

NEPANewb · Post by **NEPANewb** » Tue. Nov. 11, 2008 11:11 am

???????

You burned over a ton in 2 weeks of warmish weather????????

BIG BEAM · Post by **BIG BEAM** » Wed. Nov. 12, 2008 7:44 pm

I keep track of the number of 50# bags and tons I use each year.This year after I loaded the cellar I added up how much I spent on coal and it came out to 2300.00.I noticed the cellar was kinda full so I checked how much coal I bought,Almost 9 ton

.I usually get 7 tons but this year when my coal guy got good coal for another customer and had some left over he would call me and ask if I wanted what was left.Not wanting to pass up good coal I woud say yes.I guess I'll have some left over for next year.Can't have to much good coal.

DON