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Comment by jhallenworld | Hacker News Reader

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-home-heating...

Heating oil (diesel) is still 70% higher than last year.

I'm about to delete the oil heat, so have been watching this.. I will certainly be annoyed if it crashes back to the $2s next week (right after the conversion..)

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3010ma3m.htm

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APUS11A72610

BTW, this site allows you to compare the different heating costs: you have to enter the current prices:

https://www.amsenergy.com/fuel-cost-calculator/

    $35.78  oil
    $24.94  gas
    $79.13  electricity resistance (100%)
    $39.57  electricity heat pump (200%)

(per million BTUs output from heater)

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Heat pumps are 2 to 4 times more efficient, and if you are in MA you can get upto a $10,000 rebate and 0% loan when purchasing a heatpump. Why would you stick with oil heat? Even if it drops to $2 it will be much cheaper to have a heatpump.

In MA you are paying through the nose on labor to install though. That rebate evaporates pretty quickly, still a 5 figure job.

I am in southern NH and recently went to a cold weather heat pump system. We had an oil boiler before hand so I had all new duct work added in the basement with an air handler and 3 mini split heads in the rooms upstairs.

I got quotes for mitsubishi systems ranging from 31k to 39K. Ended up going with an LG Red system for 19k. I then installed an heat pump water heat myself so am now fully off of heating oil and it is great.

Yup, I got a quote for $30K for heat pump vs. $14K to convert oil to gas.

Also the rebate depends on also insulating your house.. which is a good idea in all cases, but not cheap either.

As others mentioned, heat pump is pricy, especially if you are in an area where you have to go real deep (geothermal) or need gas backup anyway.

Whereas replacing the furnace and AC was a $9k job and there were some rebates for that, too. Electric bill is already down, and gas should be down a bit.

2020, 2021, and 2022 oil prices have been a cause of rather than a result of inflation. It dropped from 2$ in 2019 to a low of 0.70$ in 2020, then hit a high of 4.40 in 2022 and just dropped to 3.30.

Oil heat can be tough, but the prices will go down. I would not change things just as a reaction to these prices...

There are other reasons: the boiler is from the 1940s (59% efficiency) and the oil tank is at least 30 years old.

It's not pretty if the oil tank leaks...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpH8pUSpjM

My building had a boiler fire in December with an ancient oil based boiler. Everyone's okay, but it was not fun.

Sounds paranoid. Is your tank indoors? It'll probably outlast you.

It is indoors, you might be right. The tank might also be from the 1940s for all I know. In Canada, you are supposed to replace the tank every 10 years.

The last time oil was this high, the heating bill was $3800 for the year. At that price the decision is easy.

What could happen is we go into more competition for our natural gas with Europe this winter. For sure the price would be much higher. Luckily (for USA consumers) that the Freeport LNG terminal is off-line..

Oh well foo, they soon will be back on line:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-regulator-all...

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