Is Gas Heat or Oil Heat Cheaper

We have been in our home for the past six years. Every winter the bill is outrageous. We have gas heat and dread the winter bills each year. We try to keep my thermostat at 70 but the heating bills are still high. We cover the windows with the shrink wrap plastic that you buy from the hardware stopres. I also bought portable electric heaters to reduce heating costs. We are considering switching to oil heat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
Harrine Freeman
www.hefreemanenterprises.com
Author of How to Get Out of Debt: Get an "A" Credit Rating for Free Using the System I've Used Successfully with Thousands of Clients

We have our thermostat set at 68 during the day. The theromstat is programmable and automatically drops to 58-60 at 9pm and starts heating the house up again at 5am. I had to call in to the energy company once for some reason, and the customer service representative could see the drop in our energy bill compared to the previous homeowner. Plus we have some nice warm wool sweaters.
My wife is a stay at home mom, otherwise I would drop the temp again during the day. If we're going out for several hours (i.e. church) I'll drop the temp to 64 or 65 until we return.

Careful.....how new is the furnace? Oil and gas are pretty comparable as far as price goes. If your furnace needs replacing then its one thing to switch over to oil. But I would'nt go tearing an 8-9 year old gas furnace out to switch to oil. Also.....gas does have some advantages over oil. Burns much cleaner and no messy oil tank that can stink......just less maintence overall. Start with the programable thermastat.........that will save you considerably....just don't go setting it to like 40 degrees while you away and then tell it to hit 70 degrees on your return. Its cheaper to maintain a temperature than to ask it to dive up and down. Don't be afraid to spend a little on the thermastat. Get one that has weekday and weekend options. That way all seven days can be programed individualy depending on your needs. Also I grew up in a house that was kept at 65 degrees end of conversation.......put on a sweater and tell the family to do the same........that right there will save you plenty. I'm a heating and air conditioning contractor during the summer months. Finally I feel like I could actually contribute to helping someone with a question on this site!!

Not sure how it is in the north (where it's colder, naturally!). Down here in the South, the way to go seems to be electric heat -- is electric heat an option for you? Everyone I know down here with either gas or oil is crying in their beer every Christmas. Our bills actually go down in winter (our electric utility charges an extra rate over the hot summer months). Cost to heat my 2600 single-story ranch was around $55 last month. (AC in the summer, though, can reach $200 in some months).

We have been in our home for the past six years. Every winter the bill is outrageous. We have gas heat and dread the winter bills each year. We try to keep my thermostat at 70 but the heating bills are still high. We cover the windows with the shrink wrap plastic that you buy from the hardware stopres. I also bought portable electric heaters to reduce heating costs. We are considering switching to oil heat. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.Well jeez setting it to 70 sounds pretty high to me, that is probably part of it....I don't know anyone in any section of the country that goes above 68 except perhaps in rare/extreme cases, and that includes some people I know who get cold very easily.

Also, portable heaters do NOT save you money unless you leave them on for very brief periods of time (and if so, what's the point of having it?).

Make sure your insulation throughout the house is as good as it can be...in attics, basements, around windows and doors, etc.





just don't go setting it to like 40 degrees while you away and then tell it to hit 70 degrees on your return. Its cheaper to maintain a temperature than to ask it to dive up and down. I'd generally agree, but that does depend how long you're going to be gone. If it's a really long time (admittedly I don't know what the cut-off is exactly), it would make sense to knock it down a lot.....although I would NEVER knock it down less than about 50 regardless. Pipes might not freeze but IMO any more than (about) that is too much change in a short time.

bigred,
Sorry....should have specified......you are right. If you are cutting off to Tampa for the month knock it back to like 50 or 55. Also......Agree with your statement about portables.....especialy electric. Dont use them......the rule of thumb is easy.....cheapest fuel to burn is not electricity. Its better to keep that gas going than supplement with electric.
Chris

I too like runewell have a programmable thermostat...65 when no-one is home(usually during the day...around when we get home it'll kick up to 68-70 until we go to bed..then it'll go to around 65-67...