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djdoggone

How To Read Delivery Ticket

djdoggone
12 years ago

We made some improvements to our insulation and are wondering if there is a way to see what kind of improvement that has made to our oil usage by using data from oil delivery tickets. Anyone know how to make such a calculation? Thanks, Doggone

Comments (5)

  • veesubotee
    12 years ago

    I'm not sure, but I think oil companies make deliveries based on accumulated heating degree days.

    Actually, a quick search yielded the following questions:

    "Q. Will you deliver more oil if I�m on automatic delivery?
    A. No. We schedule deliveries when our computerized delivery system projects that your tank is between 1/3 and 1/2 full. Smaller, more frequent deliveries are inefficient and would drive fuel prices up unnecessary. We do everything we can to keep our fuel prices as low as possible!

    Q. How do you know when it�s time to deliver oil to my home?
    A. We count "degree days" to calculate how cold it has been. The average temperature on a given day is measured in degree-days. The colder it is, the more degree-days there are.
    The number of heating degree days for one day is roughly equal to 65� minus the average temperature on that day."

    So if you start out with a full tank, your slip will tell you the gallons delivered. Using the date of the previous delivery, and the current one, calculate the number of HDD (below) and divide that into the number of BTUs consumed (gals x btu/gal of heating oil [look it up]. This will give you the number of btus/heating degree day.

    Alternately, you could ask you oil company if they would share their program (probably wouldn't).

    To calculate HDDs:

    Go to wunderground.com. plug in your city/zip-code. Wheel down to 'history and almanac'. Click on view (disregard date). Click on 'custom'. Plug in you dates and click on 'go'. The total will be found under the 'Sum' column.

    Using that website, you can get a few previous delivery slips and calculate the value using the website. Note: this is subject to error during the lower demand months, but you should definitely see a difference if improvement has been made. The btu/hdd value will probably be quite small.

    V

  • brickeyee
    12 years ago

    The delivery tickets should list gallons delivered.

    You can look up degree days to see how much change their was in load on the house from them.

  • djdoggone
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks, veesubotee. I've printed out your response and will see if we can figure this out. At least now we have a start because you've given us how to calculate this. Thanks, Doggone

  • jimct01
    12 years ago

    You might also find on your slip something called the K factor, KFA, or heating factor. The number is the number of HDD per gallon of oil you are getting. Depending on the efficiency of your systems and how well your house is insulated this number should between 5 for a older system to 12 to 15 or so for a super efficient system . The larger this number the less oil you are using per degree day. With my 1960's boiler my KFA was 8.2, with my newer 86% AFUE Solaia it's 11.8. Of course, it also is affected by how hot you heat your house.

  • djdoggone
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, thank you very much. That makes it very easy to figure out -- relatively -- how we are doing. Many thanks. Hubby had to work very hard to insulate our attic (a lot of air sealing and a laying down of a floor before the actual insulation) and it is just nice to know that it is helping with the expenses.

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