How much oil per square foot?

Uni R_3 · March 2007

I'm not sure what climate you are in, the efficiency of your equipment or how well your place is insulated. For that period you used about 12% more energy than my home which is around 2400sf and in the Toronto area. Mind you $10/day to stay warm in the middle of the winter is still a good deal compared to many of our expenses...

Loretta · March 2007

How much oil per square foot?

I live in an apartment about 1000 square feet. I was just given a bill by my landlord for 285.00 for February for heat. We use oil. At 2.44/galon, that's about 115 galons of oil to heat my apartment for one month. Is that about average?
It just seems to be too much. I keep the thermostat at 68 degrees.
Thanks!
LT

Big Ed_3 · March 2007

I Hate Cheap Land Lords

Here is a little help . Do a heat loss calculation on your apartment . You can go to the library or get one free on line . The heat loss calculation will give you how many btus it takes to heat your apartment per every 10 degree differential ,from your inside temperature to the outside temperature . Now from a degree day formula (goggle it) and your heat loss factor you can figure out how much you burn in a given local day , The factor or degree day is posted in the local news papers you can figure out how may btus for heating you use . Then figuring a gallon of oil = 140,000 btus . OK it also depends on his equipment . Knowing cheap land lords its old crap equipment . But say it's a decent 80% one gallon oil 140,000 btus in will give you 112,000 out for heat give or take a nickel. Now you have a little ammo ..

Sorry ....... too many of them still owe me money . Just a sore subject with me . You know "Hurry up I need" then you get paid in dribs and drabs ....

oil-2-4-6-gas · March 2007

do you have a seperate boiler and seperate oil tank--if not where is he coming up with this figure -- tell him you want some proof and a detailed explanation as to how he got to this figure -

[Deleted User] · March 2007

And ask him...

to see the combustion efficiency report from the last time the boiler was cleaned, tested and tuned...

If he's going to make you pay, he has to do his part.

Here in Colorado, if a landlord decides to bill back for fuel, he may be subject to the operating rules and regs of the Public Utility Commision...

ME

Brad White · March 2007

Back of a Napkin Analysis....

Say your 1,000 SF apartment has a heat loss at 40 BTUH per SF at design (conservative, uninsulated brick not sandwiched between other heated apartments. Say it is an end unit exposed on three sides.)

Suppositions:

Outdoor temperature is zero degrees and as you say you keep it at 68.

1,000 degree-days for the month.

65% system efficiency.

I come up with about 93 gallons of oil for that period.

If you can nail down your variables (heat loss could well be half that, efficiency is anyone's guess without testing, your climate and actual degree days are not known....) you can triangulate a better number than what I gave. While it seems high, it may not be off by much especially if domestic hot water is added in.

As a point of comparison, one correspondent on this site lives in a 35 unit condominium of 1920's construction. They spent $35,000 last year for oil, $1,000 per unit for the year. It can be improved (steam system not running well) but at least there is a benchmark.

If your apartment is sandwiched between others (end exposures only, heated apartments above and below), even if uninsulated your heat loss could be in the 20-25 BTU/SF range. Maybe even less.

realolman · March 2007

The eyes of the educated are rolling everywhere, but...

Maybe a couple of them will be kind enough to point out the flaws and shortcomings of what I have here...

That would be 16,100,000 BTU of heat at 100 percent efficiency which ain't gonna happen anywhere.

I don't know what month you're talking about, but dividing 16M / 31 days = 519,355 BTU / day.

Dividing that by 24 hrs in a day = 21,639

Multiply that by 80% which would be very good for an apartment house heating system = 17,312 BTU / Hr.

17312/ 1000 =17.32 BTU / sq ft.

Using the same method with my house which is about 1700 sq ft. ends up with:

63538 / 1700 = 37.37 BTU / sq ft / hr

If your house were similar to mine in proportion, you would use:

1700 / 37.37 = 1000 / 21.98 per sq ft per hr

Multiplying back up... eenie meenie chillie beany ...= 146 gal.

Your apartment probably has some common walls and what not, so from my humble calculations, what he wants from you doesn't seem unreasonable... It costs a lot... freaked me out last fall when oil went over two bucks a gallon.

I would think you might know something about the character of your landlord in other areas... does he/she seem like a decent guy/guyette?

Loretta · March 2007

Thanks for the advice

Thanks everyone.
I am going to get more info from my land "lordette".
We are getting oil from the same tank, but apparently separate meters.
All the Btu stats are a little comfusing, but I've got the idea.
I appreciate your help!
LT

Peter Groenewold · March 2007

Question?

I know we love to get technical here, but perhaps the bill was for a portion of the oil BILL, and not heat usage?

Brad White · March 2007

By the original post

It was for a specific cost and quantity of oil as I read it, assignable to Loretta's apartment.

mark schofield · March 2007

meter ?

same tank but separate meter would imply having your own furnace/boiler. is the meter functioning properly. also, is your hot water heated by the oil that you pay for?

How much oil per square foot?

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