I am just so sick about this whole oil spill thing that I want to do something about how we heat the water in our house–and our house in general. Currently, we have an oil boiler/furnace that heats our water and a baseboard heating system. And it is all oil-dependent.
Getting our last “budget” oil bill for the season today helped push me over the edge, especially after I’d figured out that we’d spent about $7,000 in oil last year. Since we don’t have gas on our dead-end, dirt road, that’s not an option for us to consider. And I don’t think that electric heating/water heater would be much better either.
I know that installing a solar system isn’t cheap and I don’t really have the cash on hand right now to make the change, but if I’m already spending four figures annually (broken up into 10 “convenient” payments, as my oil company calls it) to heat my house and water, I imagine that a one-time payment to get a solar system going would hurt, for a little bit, but then pay off in the end.
So I did a little research and found out a few things–even if in the process I couldn’t find out anything:
- My state, Pennsylvania, isn’t very solar friendly. Whereas there are tons of resources for our neighbors across the Delaware River (i.e. folks in New Jersey) if they want to install a solar system, it’s the proverbial needle in the haystack trying to figure out how to go from an oil-based system to a solar system here in the Keystone State.
- We’ve already done a ton of proactive things to make our house more energy efficient. We keep our heat in the mid 60s during the winter and the a/c in the low to mid 70s during the summer. When we completed our recent renovation, we paid a bit more upfront for the super energy-efficient Andersen windows and the good insulation, too. (This helped us to get the maximum $1,500 in tax credits on our 2009 tax return.) We also upgraded to energy-efficient appliances in the kitchen–dishwasher and refrigerator.
- It’s possible that our energy-sucking culprit is our water heater, which went on the fritz in January. The “rod” that is submerged in the tank to regulate the temperature corroded beyond repair so we are no longer able to keep the water in there at a set temperature. I’m thinking that this is where all that oil money is going–burning through the hot water. (According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 25% of a home’s energy expenditures come from heating water. And if we’re not heating our water very efficiently, this could explain why we’ve been paying so much for home heating oil.)
- If we decide to purchase a new water heater, it seems that residential-quality water heaters do not qualify for the energy-efficient tax credits. That stinks. We would have to somehow upgrade to a commercial-quality water heater but I don’t know if the extra money we would have to spend would be worth the amount of one-time tax credits we could get.
If you have any advice, suggestions or anecdotes with regards to this topic, please post a comment.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
We just did nearly a whole house renovation, going as “green” as possible. One of our priorities was to do away with our oil tank. Although it was a large portion of our budget, we now have a geothermal system to heat and cool our also newly super-insulated home. We thought about the solar water heater, but went with an “air tap” system instead. I am not an engineer, but my understanding is the system uses the “heat” in the air to raise the water temperature for use. We live in neighboring, semi-rural Hunterdon County- I’d be happy to share our contractor’s information…no more fossil fuels in our house
Leah, have you considered or looked into tankless hot water heaters? That’s going to be our next one. They only heat water on demand and I understand quite quickly. They are pretty expensive for a start up price but saves tremendously on costs of heating overall, plus there’s a tax credit of up to $1500 still for 2010. This site explains it a little more in detail.
http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/HeatingProducts/WaterHeating/tanklesswaterheaters_energycredit.asp
How much land do you live on? I don’t know if the topography of our yard–we live on a hill–would be conducive to a geothermal system. But yes, if you could share that information, that would be great. Thanks.
Leah
Diana:
I’d like to do tankless but I believe that the most efficient way to do this is via gas and that’s not an option for us. You can get an electric one but, again, its lifetime cost is more expensive. How I wish I had more options!
Leah
Leah,
My understanding is that the tankless hot water heaters can run on gas/propane. They cost a couple of thousand $s to buy and install, but would pay for themselves in about 2 years. Is your current hot water heater a summer/winter hook up with your oil furnace?
You probably don’t have enough ground for a geothermal – and it could cost about $40,000 to install.
What is interesting to me about the oil spill situation is that so many people are this angry with the oil industry. Perhaps this outrage will push more of us into an activist environmental role. Keep up the good work.
d
Dee Dee:
From what I can tell, we have an indirect water heater connected with our oil boiler. So the oil boiler heats water for use in the house (year round) and for the baseboard heating (for winter heat).
Leah
You may be able to find some solar resources or even pose a question at the Mother Earth News website. They have been writing on solar since the seventies (groovy, man!).
If your hot water heater is fritzing, it is definitely costing a lot of money and is worth replacing, even without a rebate. You can also add a “blanket” to a traditional heater to help reduce the heat loss.
Thanks for these suggestions.
Leah
I’m sorry your state is super solar-friendly. I know several states offer rebates and incentives for people who buy solar panels. Does PA not offer anything like that?
I was also going to suggest the tankless water heater and a water blanket, but see they have already been suggested. Good luck!
Compared to New Jersey Pennsylvania really isn’t very solar friendly.
[...] Suddenly Frugal Blog » Blog Archive » The Gulf Oil Spill and My Frugal Living [...]
I recently installed a GE GeoSpring Water Heater in my home. It uses a Heat Pump to take heat from the air to heat your hot water. It is eligible for a 30% rebate on your 2010 taxes. PECO also has a $300 rebate and I bought it on sale at Sears which was offering a 10% rebate.
Normal Price of Heater = $1599
On Sale in sears price = 1439
Peco Rebate – 300
Tax Credit – 480
Total Cost of Heater = $659
Biggest Bonus – it only costs about $200 a year to operate!!
I have a family with 5 kids and to save even more money I installed low flow shower heads to reduce both our water bill and the amount of hot water we use. Consumer reports recently rated an American Standard FloWise one and it works great.
Much easier solution than going Solar
Mark, great ideas and you’re a very smart shopper. Thanks for sharing these tips.
Leah
This may not work in your case, but may help others: You may not get a tax credit, but check with your utility provider. We have a different situation being that we use gas and live in the city, but when our water heater went out the gas company sent us a check in the mail. Small, but every penny counts.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I have a very simple idea that costs a fraction of a tankless hot water heater or geothermal.
You’ve probably heard of people putting their heat thermostat on a timer in the winter, right? Well, your local Home Depot/Lowes sells timers for electric hot water heaters.
Don’t know if there’s something similar for oil hot water heater.
The idea is, why spend energy to keep your hot water heated 24/7 when you’re likely at work during the day and have no use for it except for an hour in the morning and an hour or so at night?
I have my electric hot water heater on a timer that is only set to go on 3 hours a day. Granted, I live alone, but still, I never notice a lack of hot water and I’m sure it’s made a huge difference in what my electric bill would otherwise be