I'm an oil virgin. Please help!

August 4, 2006 1:46 PM

Home Heating Oil question. I've never lived in a house heated by oil, so I have no idea how the whole thing works.

I don't need to know how the oil actually heats the house or anything, but I do need to know how to go about buying oil for the house. We bought the house 2 months ago and the tank had some oil in it already. The oil heats the hot water as well as the house, so I will need to buy some oil before winter sets in.

Several questions:
How do I go about finding the cheapest price for oil on any given day?
Do I have to set up an account with an oil company or can I just call around till I find a cheap one and just have them deliver?
Is there some kind of a "coop" or something where I can get some big group discount?
I also thought I remember hearing somewhere about a place where you can buy a bunch of oil at today's prices even though you won't actually use the oil for many months or years. Is this called buying "futures" or something?
I saw some places where I can buy oil online. Would it be bad to do that? Would it be better to work with a local company?

As you can see, I'm a total newbie when it comes to home heating oil. Any tips or advice or just Hey! this is how it works would be appreciated.

Thanks!

posted by SheIsMighty to home & garden (16 comments total)

If you have the extra cash, fill up during the summer, as demand is lower, and the prices are lower as a result.
posted by freq at 2:07 PM on August 4, 2006

Using futures you can indeed pay now for later delivery -- assuming you really want to have ~1000 barrels show up on your doorstep. Yes, they are that kind of quantity.
posted by trinity8-director at 2:13 PM on August 4, 2006

Even if you fill up now, you'll be filling up again before winter a couple times, since you're using it for hot water.

Your best bet is to pre-pay or get on a budget plan in your area. I don't know specific oil dealers in CT, but up here there are a ton of dealers that offer these plans. You'll probably have to lock in soon though. One thing that may be helpful is to look on your oil fill-up pipe (somewhere on the outside of your house). Oil dealers place little rings (they look sort of like "live strong" bracelets) on these pipes. if you see only one, it means that a single dealer has been servicing your home, and thus you can call and find out how much oil the previous owners used last year. That will assist in your budgeting.

About coops, there should be some stuff like that there-- here we have something called "donkey card" where you pay $35 for access to cheaper oil prices negotiated by democrats.

Also, have a company you're thinking about using come and service the boiler. they can tell you how efficient it is, which, again, will help in your budgeting. Also a clean furnace is a happy furnace, and more efficient.

And, I highly recommend that you get on some sort of auto-fill-up, whether you prepay or not, as running out completely sucks, and you'll inevitably do so over the weekend when it's 15 degrees out, and it's much more expensive to get an emergency restart then.

In Portland (ME) there's also a website that tracks oil prices so you can try to find the cheapest price. Not sure if you have that there. Personally I find it worthwhile not to have to constantly price-shop, but YMMV.
posted by miss tea at 2:17 PM on August 4, 2006

Some of this is bound to be location specific, and if you're in Connecticut, start with the ICPA Web site. Pretty much all you need to know.

And while this isn't the time or place, you do, really, need to know how the heating system works, in some detail, if you don't already. Oil heat systems can be as reliable as any other, but they do require seasonal inspection and maintenance, and they generally have more parts where trouble can occur than gas or electric systems.
posted by paulsc at 2:22 PM on August 4, 2006

Clarification: prepay plans vary. You can prebuy the whole year and pay all at once, and have the dealer deliver automatically (this is not a 'future' but a contract), or you can pay estimated payments throughout the year at a fixed price, i.e you agree to buy 1000 gallons at $2.70 a gallon, so they split your payments into ten payments of $270 a month.
posted by miss tea at 2:24 PM on August 4, 2006

I found this: Citizen's Oil Coop
Anyone have any experience with this or something like it?
posted by SheIsMighty at 2:39 PM on August 4, 2006

I don't have experience oil heat, but I thought I'd pass on this company (whose ad I saw at a CT train station) for your researching purposes: heating oil made from soybeans.
posted by xo at 2:42 PM on August 4, 2006

I've had experience with a plan similar to the Citizen's Oil Coop, it was definitely worth the small fee to join . . .
posted by jeremias at 3:17 PM on August 4, 2006

Hey, cool, you live just over Avon Mountain from where I used to live... I lived about due west on the bank of the farmington river from where you are.

I'll third the heating oil *plans* as opposed to filling up on the fly.
posted by SpecialK at 3:55 PM on August 4, 2006

Oh, and when you have a nor'easter and you know you're scheduled for a heating oil fill, dig out a path from the driveway to the fill cap, and offer the delivery guy hot chocolate or coffee if you have some; not only do they appreciate it and take extra care with your property and whatnot, but they also sometimes sneak you more oil than you paid for. (But that was 12 years ago now.)
posted by SpecialK at 3:56 PM on August 4, 2006

Call around and find the best prices, but also check with neighbors. We use a company that's slightly more expensive than some I'd found but is family-owned and features wonderful customer service - We're on a payment plan (fixed payments for 10 months, any money left over (and there has been the past 2 years, even with high prices) I can either get back as a check or just apply to the following year -

In my area (Boston) the plans seem to be "either-or", as in either a fixed monthly sum or a locked-in price, but generally not both. Keep in mind also that with the price volatility, many vendors are not offering any sort of rate lock.

Bio-fuels are cool, but know that your equipment may need some modification to handle it, and that potential problems like condensation in the tank are apparently a bit more likely. You'll also have a much smaller pool of suppliers to choose from.

If your tank is older, check if your supplier has a tank replacement policy. I pay $30 a year, and if my tank (built in 1958, according to the badge on the top) needs replacing all I pay for is the cost of the permit from the town (about $50) - It would probably be in the neighborhood of $1500, so I consider it a bargain.
posted by jalexei at 4:22 PM on August 4, 2006

I'm sure that trinity8-director meant to say 1000 gallons. I don't think you're likely to have a 1000-barrel tank.

If you do not have some kind of automatic delivery (they figure out when you're likely to be running low based on the record of "degree days" that the weather has produced), you may get stuck scrambling for a vendor if there's any kind of shortage. In situations like that, oil-delivery companies always make sure they can supply their existing customers before they'll sell any to new customers.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:52 PM on August 4, 2006

Definitely call around and get neighbors' opinions. Our last house in Philly had oil and we went with the low cost provider, on the deal where they estimate when you run out and replenish you accordingly. Well they estimated badly a couple times and we actually ran out of heat during a cold snap for a day or so each time. Not fun.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 6:17 PM on August 4, 2006

Another issue, which probably isn't important to you, is that if you don't pay your oil bill, they just stop coming out to refill you. It's not like gas or electric where there are regulations to keep you from freezing.

If you ever happen to run out of oil, you'll probably have to bleed the line once you get refilled. The process is much like bleeding car brakes, except it'll be bitterly cold.
posted by Nahum Tate at 10:21 PM on August 4, 2006

I'd recommend getting a long dowel to check the oil level, because running out is at best a couple of cold days, and at worst requires someone to service your furnace.
posted by dmo at 11:03 AM on August 8, 2006

How do I go about finding the cheapest price for oil on any given day?
Visit homeheatingoilprices.com they are compiling a complete list of prices. I believe that part of the site goes live in September

Do I have to set up an account with an oil company or can I just call around till I find a cheap one and just have them deliver?
You can certianly call around to get the best price but believe me price isnt your only consideration. Depending on the age of your home you may have service issues during the winter. Nothing worse than waking up to a cold house and worrying if your pipes are going to burst.
Based on being an oil virgin I'd suggest a full service copmany to get you through your first winter.

Is there some kind of a "coop" or something where I can get some big group discount?
These guys buy the excess oil from other oil companies and act as middle men for a perctentage. Youd be better off calling your full service guy and telling them you are considering co-op but youd prefer to stay with him if he could shave off a few pennies. Reason is these guys get hammered by the co-op and when your burner goes down you eant to be first on the list because your a good customer not last because you went with a discounter. Since your a new to this house Id need to know more about the age of the system before I would recommend a service plan to you.


I also thought I remember hearing somewhere about a place where you can buy a bunch of oil at today's prices even though you won't actually use the oil for many months or years. Is this called buying "futures" or something?
Yep. Its a put and call options thing that the oil companies go through. You can end up with something similar and the company calls it a cap price. THis way your locked in so if the price goes up you have a cap and if it goes down you get the cheaper price. Dont do it. The cost of these things dont make economic sense. The spread that would have to happen would be so large chances are very slim it would ever happen.

In the old days when it didnt cost the companies so much money to get offer these programs it was a sound choice. The price makes it not worth it.

I saw some places where I can buy oil online. Would it be bad to do that? Would it be better to work with a local company?

LOCAL Oops did I say that a little loud? The big gun out there a company called petro gobbled up all the little guys moved out the owners and literally have callcenters in canada to respond to you here in the lower 48. A local company has so much more to offer.

In fact if you contact me at [e-mail] or visit me at heatingoilhelp.com I will send you some free tips so you dont get taken advantage of this season. Just let me know you found me here.

BE careful there is also an issue about CO and CO2 that you should be aware of. It could kill you and burning oil mmits theses gases. I'd get a detector just in case.

Hope that helps.

Stay warm and save money
John at www.heatingoilhelp.com
posted by jbogs at 4:30 PM on September 5, 2006