“This is not a do-it-yourself job,” Richard says. To make their tank go away, the Deldons hired Removal Specialists, a local firm experienced in decommissioning and taking out fuel oil tanks. Their walls can also corrode from the inside, where sludge-a mix of rust particles, water, oil contaminants, and bacteria-sinks to the bottom. These tanks can leak at their fittings and perfume the basement with an oily aroma. And they could say goodbye to the rusty 275-gallon steel oil tank lurking in their basement. “And I’d have to keep the driveway clear so that trucks could make deliveries.”Ĭonverting to natural gas, which feeds continuously into houses via underground pipes, would eliminate those worries. “I was constantly worried about running out,” he says.
Oil remains popular in the Northeast, however, where more than 30 percent of homes still burn it. By 1960, 32 percent of houses in the United States had oil heat, but its use has since declined to just 7 percent. Homeowners began converting to fuel oil back in the 1940s, when it was marketed as a cleaner alternative to coal.
Oil Heat: Which Is Best For Home Heating? Richard Trethewey, This Old House plumbing and heating expert, figures that with these envelope upgrades and a 95 percent efficient condensing boiler using the latest controls, the Deldons will cut their fuel bills by more than half, without sacrificing comfort. To save energy, Tom’s crew, with assistance from a small army of subcontractors, installed new windows, sprayed foam insulation into the walls and attic, and, perhaps best of all, put in a new gas boiler to replace the inefficient, oil-fired beast in the basement.
“It was costing us more than our mortgage just to stay warm.” Thankfully, the Deldons’ money-down-the-drain feeling has come to an end, as their house undergoes a top-to-bottom renovation on the current season of This Old House, with general contractor Tom Silva in the lead. “During the coldest part of the winter, we were spending about $3,000 a month on fuel deliveries,” says Nick. For the last three years, since moving into their 1909 Arts and Crafts house in Arlington, Massachusetts, Nick and Emily Deldon have lived in dread of their heating-oil bill.