oil heat & water

A little backgrond:
We moved into our home in October and thought about converting to gas (we already have a gas stove in the house). Our water gets heated by our oil, so now we know that in the summer, we'll still have to have oil deliveries...because of this my husband wants to convert to gas ASAP. However, my parents and brother have gas and their bills this winter have been 369 - 380 each month. My parents cook a lot and have older windows...my brother NEVER cooks and has completely redone his house. They keep their heat around 73 and 75 respectively. That seems too expensive to consider changing over to gas heat. I'd like to figure out a way to get the water hot without using oil, but can't find any information online. So, I figured the LIF gurus might have some insight. Do you or has anyone you know changed their water heat only without completely converting to gas? If so, can you tell me how? Thanks!

oil heat & water

You need to contact your gas provider to see if you have sufficient gas for the conversion. You will need to consult a plumber to convert the hot water from oil to gas. I have oil for heat and hot water and I do not use that much oil during the summer months- this is my first year in my house so I only have this year to go by but I filled my tank in April and did not need a delivery for more than four months.

Re: oil heat & water

Thank you for replying! I guess that will be my next step, find out if there is enough gas and then see if there are reputable plumbers to get quotes from. Thank you

Re: oil heat & water

I don't know about converting bc we have no gas lines present but I can tell you with having oil once your heat is off, you will not consume much oil for hot water. In years prior, we'd get an oil delivery early April & then would not need until November.

Re: oil heat & water

that would be great...then it wouldn't be so expensive. I never thought I'd be so happy to not own a dishwasher, but I am NOT accustomed to these bills...each month we've spent between 350-500 on oil since November. I can't sustain that all year long.

oil heat & water

Once the weather changes we get an oil del in eat April and that lasts us til November. You will not need oil all summer

oil heat & water

We have the same set up, gas just for the stove. Like others said, we don't get any oil deliveries basically once winter is over until probably October. I cook a lot and we get gas deliveries less than once a year.

oil heat & water

We have the same setup. We don't use more than about 1/4 a tank from April to October. We were full in April last year and didn't need a fill until late December.

When our water heater went they gave us the option of another oil water heater (they're very expensive) or going to an electric one, but we stayed with oil since electric in CT is just as bad as LI.

We only use about 1 1/2-2 tanks all year in 1200 sq ft at about 62, but our house is very well insulated and maintains temperature quite well in hot or cold.

ETA: we have a dishwasher, do a ton of laundry, 2 baths and DH sometimes takes 2 showers/day.

Message edited 3/2/2014 4:00:14 PM.

Re: oil heat & water

We have gas for everything and I think it's very affordable. I'm on balanced billing and it's been around $81 a month for a 3 small bedroom cape style home. I also don't recall owing yearly. Only for LIPA.

oil heat & water

My oil heats my water and we barely use any oil all summer long

oil heat & water

My gas bill is about $150-200 during the dead of winter. I never put my house up that high, 73-75* is shorts and tank top temperatures for me! I put it at 60 during the day when we are not home, I set it to 68ish when we get home and about 64 for when we are sleeping.

Re: oil heat & water

thanks :) we've kept our heat around 63 when we're not home and 68 when we are home. If it's just me and the boys, I'll keep it at 65, but my husband likes it warmer :/

I think we'll see what this summer is like and then decide on our conversion....when i tried to calculators online, they showed that we'd save 1200 a year....that's a lot of money but much less than I expected to save by converting.