How Much Heating Oil Will I Need This Heating Season?

As we inch toward the holiday season and the colder weather to come, making sure we have enough heating oil to keep us warm and comfortable becomes a top-of-mind question for many of our customers. But how much heating oil is enough?

Questions About Heating Oil Use

It’s a difficult question to answer, since so many factors affect the amount of heating oil you’ll use in a given month or season. Some of these factors include:

• How efficient (draft-free and insulated) your home is
• The weather
• How well you maintain your heating equipment
• Your heating preferences
• The age of your equipment

Still, if you want to get at least some idea of how much heating oil you’re likely to use during the course of a heating season, there are ways to get in the ballpark.

If you own an average 2,000-2,500 square-foot home in our New Jersey / Staten Island service area, you should expect to burn about five to eight gallons or more of heating oil per day during the colder months – a little more than one gallon per hour with the heating system running on and off throughout the day.

Here’s a breakdown of some average temperatures and their impact on heating oil use:

If you have a 275-gallon tank, which actually holds about 230 gallons of fuel (the rest is needed for air), a full tank should about five weeks in a 2,000 square foot home. Overall, for a home this size, you should expect to use somewhere between 700 and 900 gallons during an average heating season in our area.

Please keep in mind that these are only estimates – any of the factors listed above, plus many others, can affect your actual heating oil use.

Three ways to reduce your heating oil use

You may not be able to control the weather, but there are still things you can do to keep your heating oil use as low as possible. Here are three of the best ways to do it:

• Weatherize – Simple measures like caulking, weather sealing, and installing door sweeps can go a long way towards reducing the load on your furnace or boiler.
• Program your thermostat – Drop temperatures in your home when people are at work or school, then again at night when you’re snug under the covers.
• Maintain your equipment – Keep your heating efficiency as high as possible with expert heating maintenance, which will also extend the life of your equipment and prevent potential breakdowns.

Stay warm and safe this winter with reliable home heating oil deliveries from the pros at Rucci Oil. Contact us today to schedule heating system maintenance for your oil-fired furnace or boiler, or to top off your heating oil supply for the cold months ahead!