How Long Will My Heating Oil Last?
In the Northeast, heating oil is one of the most common residential energy sources. If your home is heated with heating oil, you might be wondering how long your tank of fuel will last you.
The answer to that depends on several factors:
- How big is your house?
- Do you use heating oil solely for heat? Or for hot water too?
- How well insulated is your home?
- Is your furnace / burner / boiler in good condition?
- What temperature do you keep your house at?
- What temperature has it been outside?
Heating oil must be delivered periodically to your home via delivery service. The heating oil gets pumped into a fuel storage tank that is connected to your burner / furnace / boiler system. It is important to know how much fuel your tank holds to begin with.
How Much Heating Oil Does My Tank Hold?
The amount of fuel that can be held within your fuel tank depends on the tank size itself.
Fuel storage tanks come in several standardized sizes but most average-sized homes in our area have 275-gallon tanks. A 275-gallon tank can hold approximately 240 gallons.
If that seems confusing to you, it is because the size of the tank does not indicate how much heating oil it actually holds.
A 275-gallon tank actually holds about 240 gallons; the rest of the space is left to allow for air or debris at the bottom of your tank.
How Much Heating Oil Will I Use?
The gallons of heating oil used per day can vary drastically depending on how warm (or cold) you like to keep your house, how well (or poorly) insulated your house is, what the temperature is outside, and several other factors.
You can burn as little as 1-2 gallons of fuel on a warmer winter day if your house is on the smaller size and you can burn 10-20 gallons of fuel on a really cold day when your house is on the larger size.
If your energy usage is average and your home is around 2,500 square feet, a quarter of a tank of heating oil should last you about a week during mid-winter months assuming the temperature outside is around 30 degrees. If it is the middle of winter, then a full tank of heating oil will last approximately 3-5 weeks.
How The Temperature Outside Affects Home Heating Oil Usage
There is no question that you will use more heating oil in the coldest months of the year.
The cold air outside is constantly removing heat from your house through the walls, windows, room, floors, etc. As this heat transfer occurs, your heating oil system will be working to reheat the inside of your home.
Insulating Your Home
The concept of heat transfer, or in this case – heat escape, is the reason it is really important to ensure your insulation is up to par.
Ask yourself, how quickly and how often is heat escaping your house? If it is drafty in your home, you are going to fly through oil, spend a lot more money, and you may still end up pretty chilly in your house.
Proper insulation goes a long way to maximizing your heating efficiency and minimizing your heating oil usage.
Think you may have a poorly insulated house but not sure where to look first?
It has been estimated that the proportionate heat loss from a badly insulated house is up to:
• 25% through the roof
• 35% through outside walls
• 25% through doors and windows
• 15% through ground floors
Setting the Thermostat in Your Home
According to The U.S. Department of Energy, you can save as much as 10% a year on heating by simply turning your thermostat back 7-10 degrees for 8 hours a day from its normal setting.
It is easy to capitalize on that energy savings during the 8 hours that you are asleep each night. Good for your wallet and good for your health.
Add to your energy savings by lowering your thermostat while you are at work too. Even if you are gone for only a few hours during the day running errands, bringing the thermostat down can help.
When planning to head out of town or on an extended vacation, don’t leave the house without turning your thermostat down. It (literally) does not pay to heat a home you’re not present in.
Compare Local Home Heating Oil Prices
If you know you are running low on heating oil, but you are not sure how much you need, don’t stress.
Enter your zip code into our smart search and simply order a ‘Fill Up’ delivery. Our technology compares local home heating oil prices for you.
You will always see the lowest price per gallon at each quantity level so that there are never any surprises.
We’ll dispatch one of our in-network heating oil dealers to your home to fill up your tank on the day that you requested.
A delivery professional will fill up your tank until it’s full. They automatically communicate back to us how many gallons were pumped into your tank and we ensure that is all you pay for – not a penny more!
Ready to Schedule Your Next Heating Oil Delivery?
Enter your zip code, see today’s super low heating oil price, tell us where and when you want it, and you’re all set!
