I keep hearing on the news that home heating oil is going to be expensive and they show trucks driving around to houses. I don't understand. Is it some kind of service you pay for monthly? What is home heating oil? I'm guessing it's a northern thing, huh? I'm in the south.

By Crystal915 on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 11:51 am:

Some homes are heated by gas, you get your tank filled as needed. I **think** it's usually propane, but I'm not sure, I just know most people in the Northeast use it. With current gas prices it's causing a major strain on those people!!

By Bemerry84 on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 11:59 am:

Some older homes use heating oil, it's not propane. I used to have it years ago when I rented a house and it was expensive back then. It's oil that goes in a tank outside your home and is routed to the furnace. Ususally when this type of furnace goes out the home owner will replace with gas (natural or propane).

By Unschoolmom on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 12:19 pm:

We have oil heat. Outside of electricity I think it's the most popular means of heating a house around here. It's basically the same as diesel fuel.

We get a delivery every month or so in the winter to fill the tank we have at the side of the house. A line carries it inside to the furnace where the flame heats the air and the air is blown through the ductwork under the floors into the house.

I find it really funny that someone can not be familiar with it. Of course, I watch TLC and see these houses with air ducts for air conditioning and I think that's strange. To me air conditioning is a box you stick in your window for a month or two in the summer.

By Colette on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 12:22 pm:

I live in New England. You heat your house with either - oil, propane, or natural gas. Any oil tank we ever had was in the basement. Propane tanks are outside and natural gas is just pumped in through lines (like your water) and you set the thermostat on whatever temp you want your house to be at, kind of like central air, but heat comes out instead.

Some people also use wood.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 01:53 pm:

I also live in New England. Our house is only 7 yrs. old and we have oil heat with a furnace and central heat/air system. The tank is in the basement. No, we won't be converting. We are on an automatic fill up plan so that we never run out. It gets darn cold up here during winter months!

By Bekah25 on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 01:58 pm:

The house we live in was my hubby gd dad's, we dont have central air or heat. The house was built in the 50s or 60s. We used the box ac b/c it can get hot this past week in texas we been at over 104 all this week. For heat we used space heaters. It getas cold..well could to us down here in South Texas. In fact we had a white xmas last year.

By Kernkate on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 02:19 pm:

I live in NorthEast Pennsylvania and we also use oil heat. I wouldn't convert to anything else either.
I think the price will be costly this year , but so won't any other heating source.

By Mommmie on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 02:45 pm:

We only have heat via natural gas that comes through pipes underground, so I guess that's why I didn't understand what home heating oil was.

The way the national news talks about it you'd think everyone uses home heating oil. Course the national news always talks about the 1st day of school being the Tuesday after Labor Day and we start school in mid August. And they also assume everyone has a basement (there are none here) and that winter means snow (I wish), that summer means kids playing outside (heatstroke city) and that air conditioning in a car is an option (it's standard here).

It's just one of the things, I guess. Thanks for info everyone!

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 03:28 pm:

I use gas, and the price of natural gas is going to escalate along with oil prices. Natural gas comes through pipelines and the Gulf of Mexico is a major source for the eastern half of the country. Those sea rigs and pipelines were also damages by Katrina.

By Missmudd on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 10:57 pm:

We are heating w/ a pellet stove, nice and toasty, not as messy as wood. Our oil furnace died and we havent wanted to replace with another oil furnace, $3000 and then paying for the oil. Natural gas isnt on my street. Propane furnace is $3500 and just as expensive as oil. I am thinking of maybe putting in a heat pump. Quick fix was the pellet stove i got one for $200 used, piped it in myself and am pretty happy how well it heats the main floor, had it up to 76 degrees today before I shut it down cause I was sweating. Electric blankets will take care of the upstairs.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 01:00 am:

We have a natural gas/forced air furnace. My parents live in a community without gas lines, so they have propane. I think it's too rocky out by them to run gas lines. They had to blast the rock, to get a basement! LOL!

By Eve on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 09:48 am:

Collete did a great sum up. LPG or liquid petroleum gas is the propane that they pump into the outside or underground tanks. (Kind of like the small tanks you have filled for BBQ grills.)Natural gas is normally found to be piped into areas of cities where a majority of homes will have natural gas. You'll see whole neighborhoods that have it piped in. It's sort of similar to city water. The pipes are already ran, so everyone is hooked up.

We live in the NE and we heat with oil and I could cry. We got our first fill up and it was $611.00. This will be a major bummer come Winter when we need 2 fill ups during the coldest months. It's going to make me a scrooge for Christmas--I can already tell. LOL

By Breann on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 10:38 am:

Eve, I could not imagine paying that much for heat! How do you budget that in, lol.

We heat with natural gas and our bill is under just under $100 in the coldest months. During the summer it's about $10/month. Our hot water heater is natural gas.

By Tink on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 12:47 pm:

We also use natural gas and our gas bills are similar to Breann's. $100 in winter, $10-15 during the summer. I've heard that it will go up by almost 50% this winter but that is just a drop in the bucket compared to heating with oil. I cannot imagine spending over a thousand dollars to heat my home!

By Kernkate on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 12:54 pm:

I just got oil and it was 2.25 a gallon which I didn't think was too bad considering....But it is going to go up I am sure. We average going thru about 150 gallons a month in the winter. And in the summer the 150 gallons will last at least 4 months.
As Eve said it will make me a Scrooge also at Christmas.LOL

By Reds9298 on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 10:56 pm:

We have natural gas heat and our bill in the coldest months (in Indiana)is around $200/mth. That's with a brand new heating system, which we just put in. With our old system it was $250 or so in the cold months. We also have a gas log fireplace which we only use on occasion because it REALLY jacks the bill up. During the summer it's about $22/mth. We also have a gas hot water heater.