I upgraded by NC cottage with a new wall mounted heating/cooling system in October. Went down last week to realize it took 6+ hours to get the house from 58 up to 70 degrees. It would keep the fan running past 72 degrees! Yup...just got the electric bill from the days it was mostly vacant: Ugh.
My MIL lives in a ~2000 sq ft home built in the 70s. Admittedly it is not the most energy efficient home BUT, she just recently got her outside heat pump unit replaced brand new with a SERE rating according to her house size.
The woman lives alone and does laundry once a week. All that money (all be it VERY much increased prices.. money) are due to the cold weather and... SMECO!
Like it or not the ratepayers for any utility pay the freight. People up here are getting bills in the $800 range. I don't want to think what the ones that have three or four heat pumps will get.My MIL lives in a ~2000 sq ft home built in the 70s. Admittedly it is not the most energy efficient home BUT, she just recently got her outside heat pump unit replaced brand new with a SERE rating according to her house size.
She also gets the SMECO weekly energy usage emails. This past week, it said her bill was estimated at $475
Gotta pay for that new 'facility' they built down in Leonardtown somehow!
It's not the burning of the oil, it's the cost. From your description, it sounds like you might have oil-fired hot water radiant heating. That's more efficient at keeping a house warm than forced air. And it seems many here go thru in a month what you use in 3 or 4. Better sealed house? Newer window/doors? Extra insulation? You seem to be the exception for low fuel use and cost.
It's forced air that I have. And Just "builder grade" house all original (except for the boiler, which as I said was installed in 2013, upgraded from just a forced air oil furnace and electric water heater, that I still use in the summer when I turn the boiler off) - anderson double pane windows, nothing fancy with the doors, 2x4 exterior walls with vinyl siding.
Oil needs a lot of maintenance LOL an hour maybe two once a year, change filter, change nozzle, check draft, vacuum, check pump pressure. adjust air, under $300 .
and this part I don’t get - 11 years with the boiler and I’ve done nothing to it. I just replaced a blower motor and control module on the air handler but that had nothing to do with the oil part.
20 year old gas furnace in my other house and not one thing has been done to it, oil needs cleaned and the nozzle replaced once a year
Did I stutter?
No dickhead.
Boilers get scale in the tube's whether they are gas, oil, coal, wood or nuclear.
Educate yourself, and do it yourself.
