so stupid

We ran out of oil to heat the house sometime early this am. The thermostat said 60. When i called the oil co. I was sure I would get the answering machine and boy was I surprised to get a live voice of a man with a real think country accent. He said they would be out here this morning. Ive been dealing with this local family owned co. for about a year now and they are the nicest guys. Imagine 6:30 am and he was all bright eyed and bushytailed. I was still stumbling around the house looking for coffee. Boy is it cold right now tho. Ive turned the oven on(electric) and have the ceiling fans going too and Im sure glad I have the smoke detectors that go off if you have co2 also. We bought those when we moved in because of the oil heat so we would know everything was ok.
COME ON OIL MAN!!

How wonderful to have a supplier like that!!

You sound like we felt when the electricity went off for hours and hours Saturday night, with nothing to start the electric ignition on our natural gas furnace.

Did you mean you have a CO alarm (carbon monoxide) rather than CO2 (carbon dioxide)? I installed a carbon monoxide alarm when I installed the wood stove. Probably every house with any kind of heat other than electric should have one.

See the title of this thread is right on. LOL Yes I meant CO. I cant believe we forgot to check the tank. Its really easy too because when I had it filled when we first moved in I had them install a gauge on the tank. Yes it is worth having a gage on your oil tank. Its a very simple device that your oil co. should have, it only takes a couple of minutes and if your lucky they shouldnt even charge you for it. Mine was free but boy is it worth it even if you have to pay for it. I hate guessing games and trying to figure out how much oil I actualy have. Now I need to remember to check it once in a while and Ill be ok.
Darius I cant believe your electricity was out for so long, thank God you have the wood stove. I want one too but two things are holding me back 1)expense 2) dont know where I want to put it yet, most likely downstairs but I want the 4 yr old to turn at least 6 I think just for safety reasons.

Dcat, I hope to never be without a highly efficient wood stove as long as I live where there is winter weather. We have cut our heating costs by 2/3rds in the last 2 years, even with the cost of buying good firewood.

Plus, I LOVE a fire (but fireplaces are SO inefficient, sending 90% of the heat up the chimney), and my Jotul stove has a glass door, plus it has a fitted firescreen to use with the door open (which we seldom so, for better efficiency).

When the lights went back on Saturday night, the glass in the woodstove door was cracked, and has now fractured even more. Since it was dark, we have NO idea how it happeded. I'm off today to get a new glass... $150.

WOW alot for stove glass, but If it has cut down on your heating bill that much it has more than paid for itself. One day I will have one, so far Im thinking of the corner farthest from the furnace since that side of the house stays the coolest. I want one simular(sp?) to yours, one we can enjoy when we want to sit by the fire. The biggest expense might be just installing the chimney since I dont want to loosemy window we will need to get thru the concrete slab wall but thats ok by me.

Yes, the installation was expensive as we used triple wall insulated vent pipe from the Living room ceiling through the attic and up the required height. The triple wall sure cuts down on creosote build-up, though. After 2 winters of use, I had the vent stack cleaned and all the creosote wouldn't have filled a one pound coffee can but halfway.

Not burning pine helps, too, as pine has lots of creosote. Pine burns too hot and fast for this stove anyway, except a little as kindling. We generally get poplar for kindling.

Dravencat:
you might want to ask your oil company if they have automatic delivery. then you never have to check it they come out once a month. and top it off. or more often if they have to.

don't forget to check you locak flea markets depending on what style of wood stove you want. one of the venders has a box style with removable places on top like the old cook stoves and he only is asking $100 for it and it looks new to me. and you would only need another $100-200 for stove pipe and such

Troy, those woodstoves are always a good suggestion, and certainly affordable. My ideal about woodstoves is to look for a stove that has close to zero emissions, thus protecting our planet's atmosphere better than most of the coal-fired electrical plants do.

None of the residential woodstoves actually have zero emissions, but there are a few out there that have a very high rating. Jotul and Vermont Castings lead the way.

I iknow I "could" buy a used woodstove for $100-$300, but my conscience just won't let me, unless I happen on a great deal on a Jotul or Vermont Castings stove. I did manage to find a fine and barely used Vermont Castings stove for a friend for $500. I hope to do the same for myself after I move!

Troy I know i can get an account but I forgot all about it when it warmed up, they dont like to open new accounts in winter, they told me why but I dont remember. This company is very good about same day service and Im usually really good about keeping an eye on my oil level, hence the usefullness of the gage. I do love the flea markets around here but I dont ever remember seeing a wood stove at one, maybe I just need to head up your way, it would sure be a nice drive. I havnt been to Pa. for too long, I used to have relatives that lived in Mcees Rocks but they have since passed away...hold on just remembered my cousin lives near Ghettysburg. hhmmmmmm.

We have a wood burning stove in our basement and it is capable of heating in the whole house when needed. I agree with Darius that I would always like to have one where ever I live. As the heat is so dry, we only use ours to supplement our gas heat when the temps are really cold. But is nice to know that when the power goes out, we have heat and can cook on top of it.

Nat, don't you keep a pot of water on the wood stove when you use it? We are able to keep the humidity in this house at about 40-45% and as a consequence, no one has been sick for 3 winters now.

We didn't use our wood stove after last Saturday night's almost disaster because somehow we broke the glass in the door during the power outage. By Sunday night (with just the furnace for heat) we both were hacking and coughing from the dryness. Fortunately I was able to locate a replacement glass yesterday afternoon in a nearby twon and we had a fire in the stove last night, complete with cast iron pot full of water on the top. Sure makes quite a difference!

My grandparents used the pot and so did we growing up, it does make a big difference. Sometimes I would add an extra pot with some potpuri(Im a hick, heck with spelling) in it to help make the house smell nice.

I keep a pot of water on the stove, plus humidifiers going upstairs in the winter. But, I seem to be super sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. Apparently, my body gets used to the gas heat and then when we stoke up the fire, I start to have problems with my allergies and my skin. Of course, since we only use the stove when it is really cold, the air outside is also very dry.

Since, I had a new digital thermostat installed this past year, the temperature in the house only varies a couple of degrees. I have been much more comfortable since then. However, I have unusually dry skin and it doesn't take much to have me scratching. I know, I know - I'm abnormal.

I LOVE OIL!
Did you hear about the town that blew up on Monday night.
Lake Wilson, MN, in SW part of the state. Whole downtown area was leveled when a propane leak into the fire station
inighted. Houses all over town were damaged. Happened at 11PM so no one was in any of the store buildings, so no lose of life or serious injuries. Some people were hurt a little when they were tossed from their beds!
Yesterday a house in Royalton, MN blew apart. The man was home & walked out, although he is in the hospital.
This was an all electric home,(The man was scared of gas.),
they think natural gas leaked in underground.
Sure glad there is no gas around here!
As for wood, I got very tired of being cold when I was a kid. All we had was wood at that time, + very dirty, not to mention all the work of making wood. Usually had a chimmny fire every winter. Never burned the house down so are lucky for that.
Bernie

I do miss my natural gas stove, everything seemed to cook more evenly. Everything here but the heat is electric and cooking in a big pan can be a pain because the out edges dont get as hot as the center, it also takes time to really cool down so if you shut something off you still have to move the pot/pan or it will keep on boiling/heating. Im also glad I dont have a heat pump, it gets too cold around here for them to be efficient. One townhouse I lived in had a heat pump and I always felt cold. YAY oil heat.