yo_mama_5000 OP t1_itrgdac wrote
Reply to comment by vexingsilence in New York and New England start RATIONING heating oil before winter as stockpiles slump by 70% and fears rise that families will be left in the cold by yo_mama_5000
Actually, people might do this. But I think the fear is more about the distributors taking too much? Not sure.
vexingsilence t1_itrhcm8 wrote
The logistics of it don't make much sense. You can't just go and pump some heating oil, it has to be delivered. So they'd siphon their own tank? Or add another tank? You could use plastic jugs and fill them at the gas station with diesel, but that'd be a fairly grueling exercise for the amount you'd need to heat a home, and it'd likely be more expensive that way since you'd be paying tax on it.
Could be the distributors.. but why would they want to over order when prices are high? It's only a win if they have a lot of excess oil and no one is able to get more. But that'd be begging for the state to go after them for price gouging during an emergency/disaster situation. Worst case, prices drop and they can't sell the excess for anywhere near what they paid.
Seems dumb either way.
Kv603 t1_itsm1ic wrote
> You could use plastic jugs and fill them at the gas station with diesel, but that'd be a fairly grueling exercise for the amount you'd need to heat a home, and it'd likely be more expensive that way since you'd be paying tax on it.
The good news is, there are forms you can fill out to get a full refund of the federal and state "road tax" for road diesel fuel used for non-road purposes -- comes out to 46.5¢/gallon in rebates in NH.
[deleted] t1_itvnict wrote
I've never done this, but some of the heating oil dealers do have pumps out front and sell it as "off road diesel", with no tax charged.
Kv603 t1_itvzuwj wrote
> heating oil dealers do have pumps out front and sell it as "off road diesel",
I assume they sell their ORD at the same price as they'd charge to deliver heating oil, looks like $5.40/gallon in S.NH today.
Sites like Gasbuddy do pretty good at keeping their gasoline prices updated, but are often way off on diesel fuel prices. Actual prices today for fully-taxed road diesel start at $5.39/gallon, though you can do better with memberships (e.g. BJs in Nashua is $5.10 for members) and gas cards.
yo_mama_5000 OP t1_itrhzxt wrote
I'd be major bullshitting if I could say how the distributors will behave. I know I do have 800 gallons contracted at $4/gal so maybe my distributor would want to make sure they can meet their contracted demand? I'm sure there's also just that panicky feeling for them to fill their storage tanks so the meet as much customer need as they can and retain customers in the future.
But as for individuals. I remember videos of people filling up trash bags with gasoline during the last price spike. So there's that. :)
vexingsilence t1_itriaj8 wrote
There was a great video of a guy that lined his pickup truck bed with plastic and then just filled it with gas. No cover or anything. Lost half of it just pulling out of the gas station.
People are amazing.
yo_mama_5000 OP t1_itriez6 wrote
Yup, I remember that one as well. :)
Constant-Dot5760 t1_itrsru8 wrote
You could use plastic jugs and fill them at the gas station with diesel, but that'd be a fairly grueling exercise for the amount you'd need to heat a home, and it'd likely be more expensive that way since you'd be paying tax on it.
I'm just now taking a peek at this. Gasbuddy.com for Nashua diesel shows me $4.39 and NewEnglandOil.com shows me heating oil at $5.59.
Is the $1.20 arbitrage done 5 gallons at a time worth it? I cancelled my keep-full service and will buy 100 gallons at a time. That means I'd spend $120 more but eliminate 20 trips. Eff it. I'm too lazy.
vexingsilence t1_itrtdg2 wrote
Might be worth doing if someone can't get a delivery. Set the thermostat to the bare minimum to keep the pipes from freezing.
Constant-Dot5760 t1_itugqri wrote
Truth! I did exactly that when I moved into my house and couldn't pay for 100 gallons for a couple of weeks. Never thought about those circumstances.
Kv603 t1_itw0ql1 wrote
I've done it when I was running low. I use the same 5 gallon yellow cans as I use to fuel my lawn tractor.
My daily HHO usage varies from about 2 gallons in November to over 5 gallons a day during a frigid nor'easter. Using the woodstove can cut that by half.
On an unrelated note, prices of cordwood and pellets are also climbing beyond last year's high.
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