My sister, who loathes Donald Trump with every atom of her heart, has been paying 300 to 500 to beat her Holbrook LI home. A few days ago she paid over 900. I’m told she’s been losing her mind over this bump up. I wonder how she feels about her vote for Biden now?
Your sister should consider finding and installing an alternate or supplemental heating system.
In the January and February I averaged an oil burn rate 1.7 gallons per day. Without my Pellet Stove the oil burn rate would be 6.5 to 7 gallons per day. My oil company is currently quoting $5.849 per gallon for orders of 150 - 199.99 gallons. An order of 150 would be $899.28 with tax of 2.5%. My Harmon Pellet Stove is on from 7 AM to 11 PM. House temperature of 70 - 72 degrees is maintained by the stove. In extreme cold 10 degrees and below house will drop to 68 degrees. You feel much more comfortable then you would with the same temperature reached and maintained by heat from baseboard systems. Thermostats are left on 60 degrees when we go to bed. In the morning I will wake up to find upstair house temperature of 62 degrees while downstairs will be about 65 degrees.
I burn between 2.5 - 3 tons of high quality pellets. Buying cheaper but lower quality pellets from Home Depot, Walmarts or Lowes is not a good idea. The biggest problem with the cheaper pellets is that dampness in their huge storage facilities turns pellets into sawdust. These 3 pellet sources seem to have serious quality control issues before the product is delivered to their stores. Pellets with a lot of sawdust will cause damage to the pellet stove.
3 tons of high quality pellets will cost approximately $1200.00 including tax and delivery charges. They have to be stored inside in a dry place to avoid sawdust problems. I use my 1 car garage which means my car is outside until I burn through my 1st ton. I buy Barefoot Pellets in 23.8 LB bags which means a ton is 84 bags on each pallet. Most pellet manufacturers sell only 40 LB bags which means a ton is 50 bags on a pallet. The smaller bags are much easier on my bad knees.
Harmon Stoves are expensive. The Advance model is selling for about $4000 new and about $2000 refurbished. Pellet stoves should be professional cleaned each end of season which will run about $200.