Heating fuel in New England?

[tmac]

We're moving to Connecticut this summer from the South, and the 2,200-square foot, 1960's era house we're buying needs a new furnace. The old oil unit is no longer operational.

What we're trying to figure out now is what to install to get the best efficiency and lowest cost over time, at a price we can afford now. Natural gas isn't available. Geothermal is out of our price range. Solar won't work on the wooded lot. That leaves us with oil, electric, propane, and wood/pellet. I've been Googling and trying to do the math, but there are so many variables that I'm not getting anywhere.

At the moment, I'm contemplating a high-efficiency oil furnace, a supplemental pellet stove in the main living area, and insulating and sealing the heck out of the place.

Anyone have any experience with this? Suggestions? Things to consider?

[Sulurith]

I live in Connecticut and my family has burned firewood my whole life. Right now we probably burn 4 cords of the stuff each year for a smaller, but older house. I don't know all the finances of wood vs oil, but sometimes it seems that our oil is a supplement to our wood than the other way around.

What I do know is that log fires burn longer than pellet fires, and building up a bed of coals in a wood stove placed against the right wall can be better for heating than pellets. I also know that if you're willing to spend time cutting, splitting and seasoning firewood, rather than having it delivered, it can be significantly cheaper than any other heating option.

On the other hand, pellet stoves are easier to use and simpler to fuel, but you can't go out and get your own pellets without buying them.

[greaper007]

Number one, air seal and insulate.   I cut my oil usage in half after I did that in the West Hartford area.    Two, I'd probably stay away from oil.   It seems that the NE went with oil when heating oil was really cheap in the previous mid century.   Since it's tied to petroleum it probably isn't going anywhere but up.

Are you sure NG isn't available?     Sometimes you can bring it in from the road for a fee.   Beyond that, I'm not sure.    Can you get a pure wood stove that's just set it and forget it?   If you can't, it seems like a pure wood stove is going to be an issue for someone that isn't home all day.     How would you keep your pipes from freezing on vacation?

[tmac]

We're not good candidates to use regular wood, I think. We've done it here in NC, and had a really hard time keeping up with it. That's why I'm thinking pellets. Spendier, but also more automated.

Are you sure NG isn't available?     Sometimes you can bring it in from the road for a fee.   Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Funny story there, actually.

Before we made an offer on the house, we called the gas company and asked if they had gas on the street. Yes, they did, and if we were willing to cover the cost of running a line, they would do it. "Great! How much?" "$300." "That's it? Fabulous, we'll do it." We assumed there was a subsidy or something to make it so affordable.
 
Today, as we near closing, DH calls the gas company back to figure out how to get started. "Are you sure you want to cover the cost?" "The $300? Yes, definitely." "Ok, so that's $300 per linear foot...Carry the 2.... That'll be $169,000."

[Sweet Betsy]

Before you commit to a new oil furnace, investigate the ductless mini split systems.  When I was looking at replacing our Natural Gas furnace last year, a lot of the furnace guys told me that people are choosing the mini split system over oil.  They are highly energy efficient and keep you away from the incredibly high priced oil. 

Welcome to New England! Check out www.retrorenovations.com  and you'll appreciate your new midcentury home much more.  One thing I've learned after moving into our midcentury over a year ago...the house has lasted quite nicely for over 40 years, you don't need to change anything right away. 

[wild wendella]

I don't have much in the way of positive advice, but I thought I could lend a warning.  We're renting in CT.  Oil heat.  1600 sqft house.  It's older than yours, maybe circa 1940.  Some winter months our oil bill is $650.  PER MONTH.  We keep the heat at around 67 during the day (we have a young child and want to keep him relatively comfortable), and lower it during the night and augment with an electric space heater.  My experience with oil heat is that it's friggen AWFUL!

[CommonCents]

I'd stay away from electric heat - everything I've heard is that it's pretty pricey compared to other options.

Re the gas line, sounds like it's too far to work, but I do have a friend that negotiated a $10k price down to $1k.  (Or really $2k, and split the cost with a neighbor across the street.)  Saved because it was an unpaved road, he got the neighbor across the street (with a bigger house) to agree to heat with gas too, and a few other things I can't remember.

[greaper007]

We're not good candidates to use regular wood, I think. We've done it here in NC, and had a really hard time keeping up with it. That's why I'm thinking pellets. Spendier, but also more automated.

Are you sure NG isn't available?     Sometimes you can bring it in from the road for a fee.   Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Funny story there, actually.

Before we made an offer on the house, we called the gas company and asked if they had gas on the street. Yes, they did, and if we were willing to cover the cost of running a line, they would do it. "Great! How much?" "$300." "That's it? Fabulous, we'll do it." We assumed there was a subsidy or something to make it so affordable.
 
Today, as we near closing, DH calls the gas company back to figure out how to get started. "Are you sure you want to cover the cost?" "The $300? Yes, definitely." "Ok, so that's $300 per linear foot...Carry the 2.... That'll be $169,000."

Wow, any idea why it's so much? The gas line itself doesn't seem to be that expensive or complicated.   Plus you would think the company wants to get you as a customer.   

Years ago I worked a construction job during the summers away from school.   We did a rehab on an old mansion which included the guy puttting NG lights in his backyard.    The gas company gave him the lights for free.   Which seems like a good deal until you realize that they don't really ever shut off...I wonder what the payback on those were for the gas company.

Good luck, I hated living in the NE.   What area of CT are  you in?

[tmac]

Are you sure NG isn't available?     Sometimes you can bring it in from the road for a fee.   Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Funny story there, actually.

Before we made an offer on the house, we called the gas company and asked if they had gas on the street. Yes, they did, and if we were willing to cover the cost of running a line, they would do it. "Great! How much?" "$300." "That's it? Fabulous, we'll do it." We assumed there was a subsidy or something to make it so affordable.
 
Today, as we near closing, DH calls the gas company back to figure out how to get started. "Are you sure you want to cover the cost?" "The $300? Yes, definitely." "Ok, so that's $300 per linear foot...Carry the 2.... That'll be $169,000."

Wow, any idea why it's so much? The gas line itself doesn't seem to be that expensive or complicated.   Plus you would think the company wants to get you as a customer.   

I totally agree, and I have no idea why. It's not like it's in the middle of nowhere.

Good luck, I hated living in the NE.   What area of CT are  you in?

We're moving to Southington.

[ZiziPB]

Hello to my (almost) neighbors :-)  I live on the Farmington/New Britain line, so just one town over from you.  Oil heat tends to be very expensive.  Have you asked your seller to provide to you their usage data?  Don't ask about the price but ask how many galons per year they used on average.  Unfortunately, a new furnace will not make a big difference.  By nature oil furnaces are just not as efficient as gas. 

Have you looked into propane?  I think it's more expensive than natural gas but I believe cheaper than oil.  I know of several people in CT who use it for heat.

[ZiziPB]

Also, as to natural gas, if the entire subdivision is not connected, then it is cost prohibitive to run the line to your house.  Based on the quote you got, it sounds like some parts of the town have gas but you must be pretty far from it.  That was my experience in Farmington - some subdivisions and most condo complexes in town had gas, but a lot of subdivisions did not.  The only way to convert would be for the entire subdivision to decide to do it (and most do not have HOAs so they are not organized enough to make a decision like that as a group).

[szmaine]

We're moving to Connecticut this summer from the South, and the 2,200-square foot, 1960's era house we're buying needs a new furnace. The old oil unit is no longer operational.

What we're trying to figure out now is what to install to get the best efficiency and lowest cost over time, at a price we can afford now. Natural gas isn't available. Geothermal is out of our price range. Solar won't work on the wooded lot. That leaves us with oil, electric, propane, and wood/pellet. I've been Googling and trying to do the math, but there are so many variables that I'm not getting anywhere.

At the moment, I'm contemplating a high-efficiency oil furnace, a supplemental pellet stove in the main living area, and insulating and sealing the heck out of the place.

Anyone have any experience with this? Suggestions? Things to consider?

We live in Northern Maine and have oil boiler and supplement with wood stoves...an old house that needs insulation upgrading (this year). We only use a tank a year with the wood stoves but many folks up here use pellets and are very happy with that...they just wont work if you loose power.
We have had some great rebate programs here and I used one when the boiler died and will use another for weatherization this year. I found this website for Conn that may have programs of use to you.
http://www.ctenergyinfo.com/residents/

[greaper007]

We're moving to Connecticut this summer from the South, and the 2,200-square foot, 1960's era house we're buying needs a new furnace. The old oil unit is no longer operational.

What we're trying to figure out now is what to install to get the best efficiency and lowest cost over time, at a price we can afford now. Natural gas isn't available. Geothermal is out of our price range. Solar won't work on the wooded lot. That leaves us with oil, electric, propane, and wood/pellet. I've been Googling and trying to do the math, but there are so many variables that I'm not getting anywhere.

At the moment, I'm contemplating a high-efficiency oil furnace, a supplemental pellet stove in the main living area, and insulating and sealing the heck out of the place.

Anyone have any experience with this? Suggestions? Things to consider?

We live in Northern Maine and have oil boiler and supplement with wood stoves...an old house that needs insulation upgrading (this year). We only use a tank a year with the wood stoves but many folks up here use pellets and are very happy with that...they just wont work if you loose power.
We have had some great rebate programs here and I used one when the boiler died and will use another for weatherization this year. I found this website for Conn that may have programs of use to you.
http://www.ctenergyinfo.com/residents/

Interesting, can you run a pellet stove off of a small generator?   I've never had one, but I believe a lot of them have 240v plugs.

[szmaine]

I don't have one, but if its got a plug I imagine you could... unless it is hardwired into the house.

[cheeseburger]

My parents live near you and are also unable to convert to natural gas.  They finally switched to a high efficiency furnace and a pellet stove and have been very happy with their heating bills this year.

You can look into getting an energy assessment -
http://www.energizect.com/residents/solutions/energy-assessments

It's $99 and, among other things,  they test for air leaks and will change all the bulbs in your house to high efficiency bulbs. Totally worth the money.

[twbird18]

Hello to my (almost) neighbors :-)  I live on the Farmington/New Britain line, so just one town over from you.  Oil heat tends to be very expensive.  Have you asked your seller to provide to you their usage data?  Don't ask about the price but ask how many galons per year they used on average.  Unfortunately, a new furnace will not make a big difference.  By nature oil furnaces are just not as efficient as gas. 

Have you looked into propane?  I think it's more expensive than natural gas but I believe cheaper than oil.  I know of several people in CT who use it for heat.

I can't tell you how much it is to have a propane tank installed because ours was here when we bought the place, but we pay roughly $2K/year for about 2.5 tanks a year of propane(500gal tank, but they only fill it about 50% each time as they come at around 35% low and only fill to 85% for expansion). All of this cost occurs during the winter & we have propane for everything, dryer, water heater, stove & heat. We keep the house at 67 in the winter and its a little over 2500sq ft we are heating - 3 floors. That's how much we spent this year in a pretty cold winter, but our house is super well insulated. It's obviously less in a warmer winter. Also, there is a budget billing option which we don't do, but you can pay generally pay ~ the summer price all year if you buy your tanks in advance.

[Milspecstache]

Another vote for considering mini-split.  It would give you AC in the summer and heat in the winter easily down to at least the teens (my experience so far).  Below that go with a wood stove to supplement.

Installing it could be difficult depending on your current layout as I did mine in new construction.

My father-in-law went with a pellet stove in VT a few years back when pellets were cheap.  He retired the wood stove at that time but within a few years the cost of the pellets had gone up, the auger kept breaking, and he couldn't find parts for the stove he had.  Now he is back to using the wood stove which has seen over 30 years of use with no problems (assuming you clean the chimney pipe every so often).  For a wood stove I would recommend piping in combustion air as that would give you less heat loss.

[ZiziPB]

I can't tell you how much it is to have a propane tank installed because ours was here when we bought the place, but we pay roughly $2K/year for about 2.5 tanks a year of propane(500gal tank, but they only fill it about 50% each time as they come at around 35% low and only fill to 85% for expansion). All of this cost occurs during the winter & we have propane for everything, dryer, water heater, stove & heat. We keep the house at 67 in the winter and its a little over 2500sq ft we are heating - 3 floors. That's how much we spent this year in a pretty cold winter, but our house is super well insulated. It's obviously less in a warmer winter. Also, there is a budget billing option which we don't do, but you can pay generally pay ~ the summer price all year if you buy your tanks in advance.

That seems like a much cheaper option than oil.  Our oil consumption was around 1400 gallons per year (heat and hot water only but for a larger house) so that was easily $5K+/year depending on the price of heating oil.  With the thermostat at 62-68 and supplemented by a high efficiency wood burning insert....

[bostonmoney]

I just had mini splits put in at my MA home.  We used the supplemental heat (Oil) when the temp was real low this year, as the heat pumps lose some inefficiencies at real low temps.  However aside from that, the electric heat pumps are so efficient that we barely used oil.

I would do those in a heartbeat again, barely bumped my electric bill in comparison to oil running 3 x 9000 BTU units.

Excited to see how the AC works this summer.

Insulate, insulate, insulate the house.  huge difference for what the cost of it is.  With the 0 insulation we had and getting the previous owners usage patterns from the oil company, I have easily paid off the cost of the insulation already by saving 2 full tanks of oil this year.  Go me!

[tmac]

I just had mini splits put in at my MA home.  We used the supplemental heat (Oil) when the temp was real low this year, as the heat pumps lose some inefficiencies at real low temps.  However aside from that, the electric heat pumps are so efficient that we barely used oil.

How would it have worked if you didn't have oil at all? Would supplemental wood or pellets have been enough of a boost to make it comfortable?

And what's the installation/purchase cost like for the mini-split? My mad Google skillz are letting me down.

[TomTX]

We're not good candidates to use regular wood, I think. We've done it here in NC, and had a really hard time keeping up with it. That's why I'm thinking pellets. Spendier, but also more automated.

Are you sure NG isn't available?     Sometimes you can bring it in from the road for a fee.   Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Funny story there, actually.

Before we made an offer on the house, we called the gas company and asked if they had gas on the street. Yes, they did, and if we were willing to cover the cost of running a line, they would do it. "Great! How much?" "$300." "That's it? Fabulous, we'll do it." We assumed there was a subsidy or something to make it so affordable.
 
Today, as we near closing, DH calls the gas company back to figure out how to get started. "Are you sure you want to cover the cost?" "The $300? Yes, definitely." "Ok, so that's $300 per linear foot...Carry the 2.... That'll be $169,000."

Screw that. Complete ripoff. Should take two guys half a day (with the right experience and equipment) Can you just dig the ditch and lay the pipe yourself from the house to their line and pay for a tie-in?

[tmac]

Screw that. Complete ripoff. Should take two guys half a day (with the right experience and equipment) Can you just dig the ditch and lay the pipe yourself from the house to their line and pay for a tie-in?

We'd be up for that, but it's somewhere down the street, so we'd have to dig up either the road itself or neighbors' lawns.

[Milspecstache]

And what's the installation/purchase cost like for the mini-split? My mad Google skillz are letting me down.

For mini-split it all depends on what you want.  I have 1500sqft downstairs being heated/cooled by 3 units: 1 in the only bedroom for sleeping at night, 1 in the family room, and 1 in the dining room.  Plenty of power as we run 2 together max.  To do this I ran the linesets in the joists during construction.  Had I do this post-construction I would have had to run linesets outside unless I split them up (1 or 2 units per outside unit) which would drive the costs up by requiring more than 1 outside unit. 

To help you I need to know:
How many indoor units you want
What walls will you hang them on (exterior is best unless you want to open up drywall)

Recognize you need a gravity drain PEX line (avoid pump), lineset consisting of insulated supply and return, control/power line.  I installed all of those lines myself and hired an HVAC guy to do final connections and charge ($500 for a day's work).

[hello867]

We use oil heat in CT for a 2700 sq ft house built in the 1990's. Oil costs about $850 a month in for 6-7 months out of the year.

[tmac]

For mini-split it all depends on what you want.  I have 1500sqft downstairs being heated/cooled by 3 units: 1 in the only bedroom for sleeping at night, 1 in the family room, and 1 in the dining room.  Plenty of power as we run 2 together max.  To do this I ran the linesets in the joists during construction.  Had I do this post-construction I would have had to run linesets outside unless I split them up (1 or 2 units per outside unit) which would drive the costs up by requiring more than 1 outside unit. 

To help you I need to know:
How many indoor units you want
What walls will you hang them on (exterior is best unless you want to open up drywall)

Recognize you need a gravity drain PEX line (avoid pump), lineset consisting of insulated supply and return, control/power line.  I installed all of those lines myself and hired an HVAC guy to do final connections and charge ($500 for a day's work).

I'm not sure what we'd need. Never heard of mini-splits until this thread. The house is 2,500 sq. ft. Four bedrooms, living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a currently unfinished basement that will become office and family room space. There's also a closed breezeway that we probably won't heat. I'm concerned that if we don't have oil or another supplemental heat source, it won't be able to keep up in the dead of winter. Is that an issue?

A friend up there has suggested a high-efficiency propane unit. It should run cheaper than oil and can be converted to natural gas easily once that gets close enough to retrofit. Thoughts on that?

[Milspecstache]

What I did for a starting point for mini-split was bring in a contractor that told me what he would do (locations, how to run piping, where to position unit, pricing, etc).  I probably would have hired it out if he hadn't quoted me $10k for labor which was himself for 1 day of work...

Central will always be cheaper because you are using 1 unit of energy to produce many, many units.  Every other source will be 1 for 1 (or less if you have to vent combustion gases).

[oceanbreeze]

Hi Bostonmoney,
We live in the boston area and would love to get mini splits. Have no idea of the cost. We need 3 units--have no idea yet of the cost. Can you share how much they were. I don't know if they're very popular around here. We have a 100+ old house.
On a side note, we switched out our oil fired steam to a gas system this winter. We got estimates of $14,000 to change to gas baseboard. So for $7400.00 we changed to gas and kept the steam it's been worth it, or at least it will be long term

[jenstill]

I live in Vermont and have an oil-fired furnace, a wood stove, and a pellet stove. Natural gas is nowhere near my house, sadly. The house is 120 years old and needs insulation everywhere (I'm doing a room at a time, as I can afford it) and is about 3000sf. The wood stove provides the majority of the heat for the back end of the house and the pellet stove provides the main heat for the front part of the house. The furnace is only there for back up, set at 60. The wood stove of course runs just fine even if the power goes out and in my area, I can get a cord of wood delivered for about $200. I go through 3-4 cords per winter. I buy 2-3 tons of pellets per winter at about $250 per ton.

Right across the street from me is a pellet stove shop that began selling gravity-fed pellet stoves this year that still run when the power is out. My pellet stove will need replacing in the next year or two and I'm thinking of replacing it with a gravity-fed one. Wood is by far the messiest and most labor-intensive, but also provides more heat for less money. The pellet stove is noisy and I have to remember to turn the heat down every night and pour a new bag of pellets in every morning. It has to be cleaned more often than the wood stove does. The oil is the most convenient and least labor involved, but also the most expensive and worse for the environment (in my mind anyway; I'm no expert).

I'd never heard of the mini-splits til this thread either.

[tmac]

You guys are awesome. Thanks so much for all the food for thought. And nice to hear that we'll have some neighbors!

Propane is starting to sound good, backed up with wood, or gravity fed pellets in the basement family room. Something that would keep going during a power outage. We work from home and will be spending a lot of time in the basement office, so we could potentially shut down most of the house during the workday and just use the wood or pellet stove.

It occurred to me that we could also put a wood stove insert in the living room fireplace.

[oceanbreeze]

We used to heat by wood--bought by the log length and then we cut and split. So much work, but worth it at the time. I was a SAHM and lugged lots of wood in the house every day. Maybe 3- 3 1/2 cords. Our neighbors said they used 4 cords this winter and 1 ton pellets--such a cold winter. They think the wood gives off more heat.

[chops]

I would look into a wood/coal furnace.  They are far more efficient than a regular wood stove (the baseboard is piped through the wood furnace) so you get even heat throughout the house from your baseboards, and you can add a domestic hot water coil (~$200) for free hot water to boot.  When you are away you can load up coal for a very long burn (~14 hours).  Filing up the furnace with wood gives you about 8 hours worth, so I never have to get up in the middle of the night to add more wood.  It's a lot of work to cut and split ~4 cords you'll need yourself but if you can get the wood for free (and in woodsy CT I'm always getting offers of free wood) when you look at the oil costs listed in this thread (up to $850/month in the winter! AHH!) it becomes a very profitable side gig.

If you're interested I can provide all the details you need on how to use it with success.

Good luck!

 - Chops

[sarahsmc22]

I know this is a little old, but as a long-time Vermonter, I can tell you that oil is ridiculously expensive (just replaced my oil furnace a few years ago because there were no other options). My folks recently built their own house, so in addition to making sure the insulation is up to date, they installed a furnace that will burn wood or oil. This way they don't have to be overly concerned with keeping the fire hot, but they spend significantly less on heating costs than I do and their house is much warmer!

[wingarcher]

Go to hearth.com and research there.  More than you can read about pellets, gas, and of course, wood.

Wood heat full time here, and it's a lifestyle.  We check the house temperature several times a day, monitor the stove, etc etc.  LOVE it for heat.  Annual cost is about $500.

Pellet heat in the shop, good pellet stoves require power and maintenance. 

Insulation, draft reduction, windows make the bigger difference, unless the house is already pretty tight. 

N