Converted to Gas from Oil last year and I REGRET IT BADLY!!

EdTheHeaterMan

This argument about fuel costs when you have a meter that is used to monitor the fuel usage and calculated every month, at about the same time,  and you compare it to a meter that is used on the day the fuel is delivered to a tank, is always subject to interpretation.  First of all the gauges on fuel oil tanks are not accurate to the gallon.  The only accurate meter is the one that the delivery driver gives to you the day the fuel is delivered. 

Now try to get the average homeowner of an oil tank to tell you how much fuel that use in a given month will be next to impossible.  The only accurate way to do that is to have a delivery scheduled for the first of the month for the entire winter.  No fuel dealers will do that willingly.  If you happen to call for your deliveries (not automatic delivery) on the first day of each month and for some reason you only used 46 gallons, you may find that the fuel delivery company will charge you a premium for the “Short” delivery of less than 150 gallons.   That is a standard practice in the fuel delivery business.  

Back when I was driving a fuel delivery truck, I remember when fuel was 45.9 cents per gallon ($0.459) and150 gallons would cost $68.85 for that delivery.  But 100 gallons would cost $59.95 and people paid it.  We even sold 50 gallons of oil for $45.95.  We were one of the only fuel dealers that would deliver 50 gallons of oil.  So if you didn't have 70 bucks, you would call F P Young and get 50 gallons.      

Economically this does not make sense to the homeowner but if that is all the money you got, you do what you have to do.  But as a business owner that has to cover all the expenses of operating a company that delivers fuel by truck, you can’t afford to make only $11.00 each stop because the customer only ordered 50 gallons.  You need to make at least $30 per stop and so a 100 gallon stop pays more per gallon than the 150 Gallon delivery, where the margin will make you that minimum $30.00 per delivery.  

There I go on a tangent again.Using two individual deliveries — for example, 80 gallons in December and 95 gallons in February — is not an accurate method for determining true fuel consumption. Those deliveries reflect what was purchased, not necessarily what was used during a defined time period.

The only reliable way to calculate actual fuel usage is to begin with a delivery that filled the tank completely — ideally from 2021 or 2022 — and then total every subsequent delivery until another full fill occurs on the same date in 2026. By summing all gallons delivered between two confirmed full tanks, you establish the true fuel usage over that entire time span.

Once you have that total gallon figure, divide it by the number of months in the period (48 months or 60 months, depending on the timeframe). That provides an accurate average monthly consumption. You can then multiply that monthly usage by today’s fuel cost per gallon to determine a realistic monthly expense.

To compare oil to natural gas, the process must be equally disciplined. Take the total gas consumption for a full calendar year prior to the conversion. Now do that for a full year after the conversion. Now subtract any usage that occurred before the heating conversion. Once you isolate a full year of heating only usage, divide that number by 12 to determine average monthly gas consumption. Then apply the current gas rate per cubic foot or therm.

I have had this same conversation with many customers. They often look at a February gas bill and compare it to a single oil delivery that occurred during winter. The oil bill may appear nearly double, but that delivery may have covered three months of usage. The gas bill reflects only one month. Those are not comparable timeframes.

Another major source of confusion is relying on the tank gauge. A tank reading of 1/4 does not represent a precise gallon amount. Depending on the tank geometry, a 1/4 reading might indicate anywhere between 50 and 75 gallons. Similarly, a 3/4 reading could represent 170 to 190 gallons.

For example:

• If a tank contains 190 gallons at a 3/4 reading and drops to 50 gallons at a 1/4 reading, 140 gallons were used.
• If that same tank reads 3/4 at 170 gallons and drops to 95 gallons at 1/4, only 75 gallons were used.

Both scenarios show the gauge moving from 3/4 to 1/4 — yet the actual usage differs dramatically. So which number would you rely on? 140 gallons or 75 gallons?

This is why tank gauge readings and isolated deliveries cannot provide an accurate measure of fuel consumption. Only full-tank-to-full-tank accounting over a defined period yields reliable data.

I don't believe that @KeefWeef is manipulating the numbers on purpose to get the results they are trying to justify. I just have experience with doing the calculation for several customers by calling the fuel dealer and getting the actual delivery records for three years and comparing it to the gas bill usage and proving to them that the difference is not as huge as the perception.

I still believe that @KeefWeef has a real issue and the installation and equipment size selection may have something to do with the high usage.  Only time will tell.  And perhaps a call to the fuel dealer to see what he actually burned the last three years.   

Trying to actually figure this out based on insufficient information and what you are used to in your building will be an exercise in futility @jesmed1. This is a much smaller home and they are using too much fuel. In My Humble Opinion. That can happen with steam. operating at higher pressures than necessary can double your fuel usage and you will not feel any more or less comfort, just higher fuel bills.

Jamie Hall

Well said, @EdTheHeaterMan . But very very few people have the patience or perhaps even the ability to actually keep accurate records of energy usage (gallons of oil or propane, therms of gas, kilowatt hours of electricity) nor do they keep them over long enough periods of time to remove the natural variations which occur.

Not that it's not worth doing — we have records of usage on a more or less biweekly basis going back, in the case or one building, over twenty years, and they are invaluable. Not only for evaluating options, but they will also show that something is out of adjustment or needs attention (we once picked up the failure of a digital thermostat that way; it was otherwise not an obvious failure).

Basically, keep a record of the date and amount of all fuel deliverries — and keep a record, for the same time periods, of the weather (at least degree days!) and any changes made to the equipment or the property. It's worth it.

KeefWeef

@jesmed1 Dude, calculate it anyway you want, I KNOW how much oil I put in my tank over the years and I KNOW how long it lasted, which is what I stated. Bottom line is, these monthly gas bills are ASTRONOMICAL since I converted to gas and I did not sign up for that. I have a HVAC guy coming on Monday to inspect my system, make an assessment, and then recommend the needed reconfigurations.

KeefWeef

I wish that I would've just purchased another oil fired furnace than converting to Gas. This is such an expensive lesson to have to learn.

jesmed1

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1887933#Comment_1887933

I feel your pain. I wasn't doubting you, just trying to get an accurate estimate of your total annual oil consumption, which is difficult without delivery records spanning the entire year, as @EdTheHeaterMan said.

Hindsight is 20/20 as the saying goes, but hopefully you can get your new system working more efficiently and save some money on future gas bills. And as @Jamie Hall said, if you keep your gas bills and note the therms used each month, you'll have a good basis for comparing gas consumption in future.

I'll also put in a plug for smart thermostats. We have two boilers heating four separate condo units, with each boiler controlled by its own ecobee smart thermostat. Ecobees record their daily/weekly/monthly boiler run times, and I've found that data invaluable in tracking oil consumption and assessing the effects of adding insulation, upgrading windows, etc. Especially in your situation where you're now trying to reduce boiler run times by improving your system efficiency, the detailed run time data you get from an ecobee would be helpful, I think. Before I installed our ecobees, I had to track boiler run times "by hand", as it were, while trying to track down the causes of boiler short cycling. The process would have been much easier if I'd had the run time data that's collected automatically by the ecobees, as they give real-time graphs of daily boiler run and idle times. We have hot water, not steam, but I've read other steam users here say that ecobees work well on steam systems too.

ChrisJ

It's been colder than a cast iron commode on the shadier side of the iceberg out.

It costs a lot more money than a mild winter.

Mark N

The picture posted of the rating plate shows the new boiler is rated for 446 sqft EDR. @KeefWeef also states their house is 950 sqft. The installed boiler is probably 2x oversized or more. The smallest Crown steam boiler most likely would have been a better choice. It would be interesting to know how the installers sized this replacement boiler. Did they even do a radiator survey? If the old boiler was better matched to the installed EDR of the rads, even with lower efficiency it could have lower operating costs. I myself switched from oil to a new gas steam boiler in 2008 and never regretted that decision, my operating costs went down. The price of natural gas per therm was $1.55 and only went down after that. The current price is $1.21/therm, still lower than it was then. The new boiler was very well matched to the EDR of my radiators and getting rid of the 75 plus year old oil tank was a plus. Hopefully, the person that KeefWeef has coming out will be able to over some options to remedy the situation.

Mark N

@KeefWeef was the HVAC person able to stop by and give any recommendations to help resolve your issues?