Hunter Geist, Author at FuelSnap

Heating Oil: What You Need to Know

December 29, 2025August 4, 2025

Heating Oil is one of the most popular ways to heat your home in today’s age. It is not only reliable, but it’s incredibly efficient. Just one gallon of heating oil can effectively heat your home and provide consistent hot water! It is also known to be one of the safest ways to heat your home! It also produces more heat than propane and is often more readily available than propane, with thousands of dealers in the northeast alone!

So if you’re new to heating oil, or still aren’t sure what’s important to know, then don’t worry! In this article, I’m compiling everything that’s important and everything that you need to know! So feel free to bookmark this article and come back to it whenever you need to reference it! There’s going to be a lot in this article, so you might want to come back and reread it!

Where is it Stored?

If you’re using heating oil as your primary source of heating, then you’re going to have a heating oil tank installed somewhere on your property. These tanks are installed somewhere on the property but will usually be located either indoors or outdoors. Occasionally though, they can be found underground. Although, this is becoming far less common nowadays as they’re being removed to prevent environmental damage. If your tank is underground, then I highly suggest getting it removed ASAP. If you want more information as to why that is, check out my article on underground tanks where I go over why you should remove them here.

Most indoor tanks will look something like this.

This is by far the best and safest way to store heating oil. Preferably indoors rather than outdoors. That way the tank itself isn’t exposed to the elements. Typically those tanks will often need to be more frequently replaced compared to those installed indoors. This is often due to not being exposed by to the elements such as snow, heat and direct sunlight.

Outdoor tanks usually will have a similar setup to this.

How Does it Get Delivered?

Heating oil gets delivered by a truck. You’ll schedule a heating oil delivery with your provider or through the FuelSnap website. The dealer will then come out to your home with their Oil Truck to deliver heating oil. Unlike natural gas that’s pumped into the home, heating oil needs to be delivered.

After the driver’s arrived at your home, he will locate the fill and vent pipes. These pipes work in tandem with each other. The fill pipe allows the dealer to pump oil into the tank, while the vent pipe allows for airflow to leave the tank. These pipes are usually located on the side of the home on indoor tanks. While on outdoor tanks they stick up from the top of the tank. But on underground tanks, they stick up out of the ground.

Once the driver has connected the truck’s hose to the fill pipe, they will start filling the tank. As the driver fills the tank, they’ll listen for a loud whistling sound. That is the sound of oil being pushed through the tank’s whistle. This sound will keep going until the oil starts to cover the whistle. At this point, the driver will stop pumping oil into the tank to prevent overflow and leaking. If you’re curious on a more in-depth explanation of this process, check out my article on the topic here.

How to Order Oil

Now, this wouldn’t be a guide on heating oil if I didn’t go over how to order it! There are a few ways to order oil. However, there are three that tend to be more popular than others. They’re listed below:

Automatic Delivery: This is probably the most common way to order heating oil. By using this method, you are working directly with your dealer to determine how often and how much that they can deliver. This is determined based on your usage. But this also tends to be the more expensive option overall.

Call-by Delivery: Now this another common way to order oil. This tends to be more cost effective. The reasoning for this is because you’re able to order oil whenever you need to and get the best price possible by shopping around! You’re also in control of when they deliver. So no need to worry about your delivery showing up randomly!

Call-by Using a Smart Oil Gauge: This is the option that will give you the best of both worlds! You’ll have the convenience of automatic delivery while having the freedom of Call-by delivery. You can use our Smart Oil Gauge app to monitor your fuel level and control when you need to order!

What to Do if you Run Out of Oil?

If you run out of oil, then it’s important that you follow our guide on what to do. You can check it out here for a step by step process. But to briefly explain what to do, you’ll want to:

Ensure that you’re definitely out of heating oil.
If you’re out, ORDER OIL! It’s important that you do that so that you know when you’re next fill up is!
Go to the Gas Station and get 5-10 gallons of Diesel. This will hold you over until your delivery arrives.
Press your burner’s restart button to restart it.

Will the Dealer Deliver Oil If You’re Not Home?

In short, yes the dealer will deliver to your home if you’re not home. However, this is true only if you place an order with a credit or debit card. Most cash orders will require you to be present at the home during the time of the delivery. This ensures that the dealer is delivering to the right house and gets their payment.

Some dealers will also require a tank inspection for a fill up. This is usually the delivery driver and is usually free with the delivery. Not all dealers require this though, and it’s very simple to do. The driver will make sure the whistle is working and that there are no visible leaks coming from the tank.

Conclusion

This is a lot of important information. So feel free to bookmark this article, and come back to it when you’d like! This will help you get a better grasp on heating oil and what you need to know! It’s honestly the best fuel that you could have to heat your home!

Plus, with all of the different technology that we have, you can even do more research and be a bit more flexible when it comes to big decisions such as automatic delivery!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Heating Oil Consumption on Christmas

December 22, 2025March 12, 2026

With Christmas only being a few days away, it’s important to understand what your heating oil usage on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be like. These days tend to be busy not only for you, but your heating oil system. But why exactly is that? Well, your usage will be different depending on what you’re doing for the holidays and how many people you’re having over! I’ll be covering exactly how much oil you should expect to burn during the holiday season!

How your Holiday Events Effect Usage

It’s important to know that what you end up doing for the holidays will effect your overall usage. If you’re used to having quiet holidays with only your immediate family, then your usage will be like any other day during the winter. But if you are going to have family over, then your usage might actually be higher than usual!

Large family gatherings might increase your oil consumption. This is often due to more people in your home, which can cause you to possibly increase the temperature of the thermostat. Increasing the temperature on the thermostat can cause an increase in usage, especially if you’re having a large family gathering! This is due to your system having to work harder to reach the desired temperature.

Large family gatherings will increase your oil usage to accommodate for the increase in home occupancy.

However, if you have a quiet Christmas with only your immediate family or friends, then this will likley be like any other day during the winter. If you have an average sized home, then you might find yourself burning around five gallons of oil a day. The same can be said on Christmas if you aren’t having a lot of people over!

Staying Home Increases Oil Usage

During the holiday season, you might find yourself staying at home to prepare for your annual family gathering. Weather or not that be at your house, you will likley see an increase in consumption over all. This is because if you’re staying at home to prepare, then you’ll be using more heat to keep you warm while you prepare. This is often because if you’re home all day or for long stretches of time. During this time, you’ll burn more oil to keep you warm!

But, what does this mean if you have guests over? Well this often increases your usage as well. If you have a large family gathering, you might have to turn up the heat to accommodate for more people. This increase in heat requirement will cause your system to do more work to keep your home warm. If your family gathering is large, then this will significantly increase your usage. Large family gatherings often require more rooms in your home to be heated. While most of the time you might find yourself in the kitchen or living room, sometimes the younger kids might go into their cousins bedrooms or sometimes in the basement or downstairs areas of the home. All these rooms will now need to be heated to accommodate for all the extra people. Not to mention more people using the bathroom which will result in more hot water consumption.

How to Mitigate Heating Oil Use on Christmas?

Now it’s important to know that this is peak heating oil season. So it will be harder to not burn oil, especially if you want to keep warm! But that being said, there are a few different ways to keep yourself from burning a lot of oil during your Christmas parties. You can find some of them below:

Good Insulation: Increasing your insulation is a great way to keep your home warm without ordering more oil. Insulation keeps the heat in your home, which will in-tern keep your system from burning a lot of oil, even with an increase of people at your home!
Early Prep: Prepping for your Christmas Gathering in advance actually puts you at an advantage when it comes to burning oil. This is because if you do a majority of the prep throughout the week prior to Christmas, then you won’t have to burn as much oil on the day of!
Wood Burning Stove or Fireplaces: Now, while these aren’t available to all homes, they are still very useful! If you have one, then definitely stock up on fire wood and start a fire. This will help keep several rooms in your home warm and reduce the amount of heating oil you burn! Plus, it’s also very festive!
Space Heaters: Space Heaters are convenient and reliable! All you have to do is plug them into the wall and they’ll heat a surprisingly large area! They’re especially useful in sections of the home where heat isn’t always readily available! Just make sure to unplug them when you leave the house!

Setting up a fire on Christmas is not only festive, but will help reduce your oil consumption!

Heating Oil On Christmas

Burning heating oil on Christmas is something that everyone does. But it’s also something that can be easily managed. Just like our holiday celebrations, it’s something we’ll always be prepared for and if you know exactly what you’re doing for Christmas, then you’ll be able to prepare yourself. Whether it be having the family over, or going to one of your relatives, being prepared for the holiday celebrations by ordering heating oil is a must!

With Christmas in only a couple more days, there’s probably a lot of things that you have to take care of. But adding a delivery of heating oil to it will help you stay on top of the season and prevent running out! While you might get it right away, order it in advance so that you’re fully stocked up for Christmas!

But most importantly, enjoy your Christmas! No matter what you’re doing, it’s important to spend these days with your loved ones! No matter what you’re doing, be sure to enjoy it!

Merry Christmas!

Hunter

Heating with Propane: The Disadvantages

December 15, 2025July 9, 2025

Are you thinking about switching to propane? Back in 2015, this was probably the right move. But in today’s day and age, this is not the right decision. Propane was once considered the best way to heat your home. However, as time has gone on, this has proven to no longer be the case. It’s important to know what you’ll be getting yourself into before the switch. So I’ll be going over exactly what you need to know here!

What are the Benefits?

Now, propane isn’t without it’s benefits. If you don’t have access to heating oil or natural gas in your area, then propane is the next best option and it does offer very similar benefits. There are quite a few similarities that it shares with heating oil. Those tend to be the following:

Heating the Home

Heating Hot Water

However, propane has a few other utilities that heating oil doesn’t! This does give it a little bit of an edge on heating oil. Although because it produces less heat per gallon, it doesn’t get a lot of other legs up on heating oil. But you can use it for the following:

Powering a Generator

Fuel For Gas Fireplaces

Powering Gas Stoves

Outdoor Grills

Propane is essential in most modern grills. It’s a great fuel source for powering grills and stovetops.

What are the Disadvantages?

While propane is very similar to natural gas, there are quite a few differences. The biggest difference is being delivered by a truck. The fact that it requires a truck to be delivered, puts it in the category of a form of heating oil. Another huge difference with heating oil and propane is that with heating oil, you own your tank. Usually with propane tanks you rent it from the provider. However, you are given the option to buy out the tank, but it’s usually expensive!

But having your tank be owned by the supplier can lead to the following disadvantages:

Difficulty Switching Dealers: If your dealer owns your tank, then switching dealers is going to be hard to do. This is because propane dealers will tend to have you buy out the tank and this will cost you a lot of money. Propane dealers do this because they want to lock in your business, essentially restricting you to buy only from them! This also means that you can’t fill up your tank if you run out! That can be very frustrating!

Price Comparing Difficulties: If you were to call local dealers and try to get prices from them, chances are they won’t tell you. In short, this is due to dealers not wanting to fill another providers tanks. In most states in the US, including Connecticut, it’s illegal for a propane dealer to fill another’s tank. This is often due to safety regulations and ownership laws. However, with heating oil, using a website like FuelSnap, you can see a list of all the dealers in your area and their pricing!

Expensive Propane Pricings: Propane not only produces less heat per gallon, but it also tends to be much more expensive than heating oil. At the time of writing, in CT, propane is $3.85 per gallon, while heating oil is $3.15 per gallon. That is 70 cents more for less heat! This means that you’ll need roughly 35% more propane to get the same amount of heat as heating oil.

Propane tanks have a large range of sizes, which can make it even more expensive for a fill-up.

Should You Heat With Propane?

Long term, propane is not a great heating oil solution. It’s very restrictive when it comes to ordering for your home and can be expensive. When you’re comparing it to heating oil, it is outclassed. Heating Oil is the obvious choice, and is often more reliable. With being able to produce more heat per gallon at a cheaper price, it’s able to be a better solution long term.

However, propane is still a great source of heating for your home utilities! Just one small tank will be able to cover water heating, powering a stove and much more in your home! Plus, getting a small refillable tank for a grill means that you can the occasional summer barbeque!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Why Heating Oil Is So Popular

December 8, 2025July 3, 2025

Heating Oil is a very popular way to heat your home. Especially here in the Northeast United States! But why is it as popular as it is? There are a lot of factors that make it the prime choice. For example, it’s very safe to use, easy to obtain, and very efficient. But in this article, I’m going to go through everything you need to know about why that is. I’ll be discussing what makes it so popular in today’s market!

Comparing Heating Oil and Furnaces

In the Northeastern United States, you can find some of the nation’s oldest homes. Some of these homes even date back to the 1800s! But in the 1900s a lot of homes were heated with coal furnaces. This means that you’ll often find that most of these older homes have coal furnaces installed in them. These are usually located in the basement of your home and similar to heating oil, coal used to be delivered! You would have to order a shipment of coal that would be delivered to your home. The coal would come and would then be shoveled into your furnace to keep the house warm. However, over time these coal based furnaces became phased out and replaced with wood-burning stoves which were more efficient.

Wood burning stoves are still popular today! While not as popular as heating oil, they are still a helpful and useful tool for home heating!

When comparing heating oil to coal and wood, it’s often the better option. It produces more heat than both of them and is also much easier to maintain and operate. Heating oil is also easier to store compared to coal and wood. Back then, storing coal and wood was a hassle and not as convenient as it can be now. But, heating oil is very easy to store! Once you have a tank in your home, you can store the oil in your tank and the system will draw it from your tank to the burner when you need it!

Transitioning from Coal to Heating Oil

As heating oil got more popular in the middle of the 1900s, coal trucks slowly became both heating oil and coal trucks. Before they eventually became just heating oil trucks. This caused in an increase in popularity, thus phasing out coal from homes. Slowly but surely heating oil became the new normal. Heating Oil was just able to produce more heat per gallon compared to coal and wood ever were.

What are the Benefits of Heating Oil?

There are many benefits to using heating oil that other ways to heat your home might not necessarily have. Electric Heat and kerosene are both expensive, and while natural gas is convenient, it’s not necessarily easy to come by. But here are just a few of the benefits:

It’s Very Safe to Use: Heating Oil is one of the safest ways to heat your home. In it’s liquid state, it is non flammable and it has to go through the process of atomization for it to become ignitable. That means that it’s impossible for it to start a fire or explosion in the tank itself. If you were to drop a lit match into a bucket of heating oil, the oil would douse the flame. Just don’t try this at home because heating oil has a very pungent odor! Most importantly, it must be heated up to 140 degrees and atomized for it to become flammable.

Great Efficiency: One gallon of heating oil can produce a total of 138,000 BTUs. Now when you compare this to propane, which only produces 91,500 BTUs per gallon. So propane actually produces LESS heat per gallon. But while they are efficient, they can’t use 100% off all those BTUs. So heating oil will only produce 85% effective BTUs. Which equates to 117,725 usable BTUs. Propane will only be able to produce 86,925 usable BTUs per gallon.

Freedom to Buy: The nice thing about heating oil is that it’s not restrictive. You own your tank, unlike with propane, where you rent the tank. You can order from whoever and whenever you want. So you’re not reliant on one dealer to come out and deliver! So if you want to top off your tank, you’re able to do so! This will save you so much money in the long run, because you’re able to shop around and look for the lowest prices possible.

Adding Diesel When Running Out: Unlike propane, if you’re at risk of run out, you can go to your local gas station and pick up a couple of gallons of diesel.. While you should only do this in an emergency, heating oil and diesel are similar enough that you can do this if you’re in a tight situation. Five gallons can keep you warm for a few days or overnight, depending on the time of year!

Can Monitor Easily

Another great feature about heating oil is how easy it is to monitor! You can use a float gauge or a Smart Oil Gauge, to be able to track your level and usage on your tank! When it comes to the float gauge, you’ll have to go down to the tank every so often to check your level. However, with the Smart Oil Gauge, you can do all that with the press of a button and the touch of your finger!

Once you install your Smart Oil Gauge, you can monitor your tanks usage and oil level!

With the growing popularity of the Smart Oil Gauge, you won’t have to worry about running out or how many gallons you’re burning daily. The Smart Oil Gauge will have all that information for you available on the app! You can find all your data in one convenient place on the app! This will make it easier to understand when you need to order oil and how much you’re consistently burning.

Heating Oil Is the Way to Go!

When it comes down to it, heating oil is the best way to heat your home! Especially in the northeast, this is the easiest and safest way to heat. With it’s high combustion temperature and it’s efficiency producing heat, you’ll have no problem heating your home!

When using heating oil to heat your home, then that means that you’ll have alot of options when it comes to heating your home and where to order from. Plus, you have the freedom to order from whoever and wherever you like! It’s helpful and convenient which will make your heating process much easier and streamlined for your home!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Heating Oil: Usage in the Winter

December 1, 2025July 3, 2025

It’s December! Which means that it’s the busiest time of year for heating oil dealers! But this is also the time of year when oil is in the most demand. Especially with Christmas and New Year’s around the corner, it might be hard to get some heating oil soon if you’re running low. So now you might be asking, “When should I order oil?” or “How Long Will my Tank Last me?”. Well, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to cover everything that you need to know about your heating oil usage during the winter season!

Tank Sizing

The size of your tank plays an important role in determining when you need to order heating oil. The more oil your tank can fit, the less frequently you’ll have to order. The most common size for a heating oil tank is 275 gallons. These tanks have a maximum capacity of 275 gallons. However, their true capacity is 250 gallons. This is because the dealer will leave the top couple inches free for air flow. They do this to prevent the tank from overflowing and to prevent leaks. This is on all oil tanks. The dealer will never fill your tank to max capacity because it puts the tank at risk of leaking. The second most common tank sizes are 330 gallons. Similar to their 275 gallon counterpart, their true capacity is 315 gallons.

Dual tanks are another common way to store oil in your home. These are tank combinations that are two tanks linked together. Meaning that these setups offer double the capacity. So on a system that has two 275 gallon tanks, your system will effectively be 550 gallons! This typically means that you’ll have to order less frequently, but in higher quantities. These tanks connect via the feed lines and the system will draw from them equally. But if there’s a clog in one of the feed lines, then that means that the system will end up drawing more oil from one tank.

Average heating oil tanks tend to be 275 gallons as their maximum capacity. But the true capacity tends to be 250 gallons.

Underground tanks tend to be pretty uncommon nowadays but are becoming increasingly rare. Their smallest sizes tend to be around 500 gallons, but some can get as big as 1000 or even 2000 gallons! These tanks are constantly being removed because they are environmental hazards. This is causing them to be constantly removed and replaced with newer tanks.

How The Size of Your Home Affects Usage

While the size of your tank will affect how much oil you burn, your home’s size also greatly contributes to high usage as well. Here are just a few of the major factors that contribute to high usage:

Home Size: This is probably the most important factor on this list. The size of your home will greatly impact how much oil your system will burn. The larger your home, means more surface area that your system has to heat, which means that you’ll burn more oil on the daily. For example, a 1500 square foot home might use an average 500 gallons of oil per year! Sounds like a lot right? Well a 3500 square foot home could use an average of 1200 gallons of heating oil per year!

The Energy Efficiency of your Home: If your home has good insulation, then this will drastically decrease the amount of oil you’ll use! Good insulation makes it harder for heat to escape the home, which won’t over work your system. 2500 square foot homes that gave good insulation will likley only use 600 gallons per year! Meanwhile a home of the same size that’s poorly insulated might end up burning 1200 gallons of heating oil annually!

System Age & Maintenance: The age of a heating oil system will play a big roll in how much oil you’ll burn. If your system is properly maintained, then your system can last up to 30 years before needing a new one! However, this is still no match for a newer tank system that tends to be roughly 30% more efficient.

Temperature: Both interior and exterior temperatures will effect how much oil you’re burning. If you tend to turn the thermostat high, try lowering the temperature on it. The higher it is, the more heat your system will burn. However, the outside temperature does play more of a role in how much you’ll burn! The average day in December is typically anywhere from 20-30 degrees. This can cause your system to burn roughly 5-6 gallons on the daily! Just to keep you warm! But in the single digits, you might even see yourselves burning 8-12 gallons of oil!

Your Daily Usage

After determining how big your home is, it’s important to figure out how much heating oil you’re going to be burning on a daily basis. This will give you a rough estimate as to how many gallons of oil you’ll be burning daily. Your home’s size will also help you determine when you’ll need to order more oil as well as how much you’ll be burning.

The above charts shows how your home’s size and the daily temperature will effect your usage.

However, with that in mind, it’s important that you should never let your tank get close to running out! This can damage your system and put you at risk for run out! To prevent this, you should always order oil at a quarter tank.

How Long Will Your Tank Last?

This factor is determined by when you order oil and by how much is already in your tank when you order. For example, if you place an order for heating oil when your tank is half way full, then you’ll last until your next delivery. However, if you order when you’re low on oil, then there’s a chance that you won’t get your delivery by the time you runout. Think of it like filling up your car. Letting your car run on empty is never a good idea. The same is true for a heating oil tank. Letting your tank run low will not only damage your system, but if you’ve got sludge build-up, the sludge will clog the tank’s feedlines. To prevent this, it’s really important that you order oil when the tank is at a quarter.

Following the rule “reorder at a quarter” is a good structure to have when ordering heating oil. Regardless of if you use a float gauge or Smart Oil Gauge, you’ll be able to determine when your level reaches a quarter tank so that you can place an order. But note that float gauges will are never 100% accurate. They don’t account for the tanks curvature and this can make it look like you’re burning a lot more oil than you actually are.

By following the above example, you can tell when you should order oil by where the float gauge is sitting.

On a 275 gallon tank, the quarter mark is roughly 68-75 gallons. Now, because 275 gallons tanks only have a maximum capacity of 250 gallons, this means that there’s only really 175-182 usable gallons of oil. You can still use the oil below a quarter tank, but try to think of that as your safety net. But, you can calculate your usage based on the above graph. Here’s an example:

Home Size: 2500 Square Feet

Average Outside Temperature: 30 Degrees Fahrenheit

Daily Average: 5 gallons per day

Tank Size: 275 Gallons (True Capacity 250)

When To Reorder: Quarter Tank or 75 gallons

Gallons You Can Use: 175-182 gallons

Days Between Fills: 175-182 gallons/ 5.2 gallons/day= 35 gallons

So if the average exterior temperature stays around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, the average 275-gallon tank in a 2500 square foot home will last you roughly 35 days before you need to fill up again!

Checking When you need Oil

The last thing you want to happen this time of year is waking up to a cold house. That isn’t very fun, I’ve been through it. A Majority of the time as to why this happens is because you’ve run out of oil. If this happens to you, then following our guide on what to do here.

If you’re using the standard float gauge that comes with your tank, then you’ll want to check it at least every two weeks. This is because these gauges aren’t always accurate and you won’t usually be alerted if you’re running low. So it’s important to check frequently.

But using a tank gauge such as the Smart Oil Gauge, will help you immensely! Using one of these gauges will give you the ability to have access to your tank’s level and usage data all the touch of your fingers! As long as you have access to cell service or WIFI, you can access it all with just your smartphone! You can even order oil through the app with our built in FuelSnap integration!

However, if you’re still new to heating oil then you might want to closely monitor your usage. This will give you an idea of how much you’ll need to order, how frequently you’ll need to and what your average usage will be.

Your home’s size will determine how many gallons per year that you burn. This gives you the idea of how many gallons you’ll burn annually depending on your overall usage.

Conclusion

The best time to order oil is at a quarter tank. This is typically when the float gauge is at the 1/4 mark. That’s when you’ll know it’s time to order heating oil. You can always contact local dealers in your area, or use websites like FuelSnap to find out the local pricing per gallon.

You can choose which dealer you want to deliver and how much! That way you can avoid waking up in the middle of the night with a cold house and no oil! By not only being on top of your oil level, but also understanding when you should order will help you so much! This will give you the best structure for using oil in the winter time to help prevent running oil!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Which Is Better: Kerosene or Heating Oil

November 24, 2025June 26, 2025

Petroleum-based fuels are very common nowadays, and we tend to rely on them to heat our homes. They also heat a variety of our automobiles and help the world go round with transportation. It can even power the appliances of some homes, such as furnaces or stoves! But if heating oil and kerosene have similar functions, what’s the difference, and which tends to be better for heating your home? In this article, I’ll go over exactly what the differences are and which one is better for your home!

What Exactly is Kerosene?

Kerosene is a form of hydrocarbon oil (a variety of organic mixtures made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms) with a large variety of uses. Typically, it’s most common uses now tend to be with cooking, heating, and use in jet fuel. However, in the 1800s, it was often used for lighting lamps, which is what kerosene became known for.

Kerosene lamps were very popular in the 1850s. It was used mostly as a light source back then.

Similarly to heating oil, kerosene has a distinct smell. It’s normally either a clear or yellowish fluid. It also actually tends to burn more efficiently and often cleaner than heating oil does. But you can’t use it in just any heating system. If you wish to use kerosene as a long-term heating solution, then you must do it in a specially designed system.

What Are the Differences Between Heating Oil and Kerosene?

Heating Oil is a form of crude oil that is most commonly used as a way to heat your home. This is due to it being incredibly safe and reliable! Getting into the specifics, heating oil will never get to the point of starting a fire in its liquid state. Heating Oil needs to be atomized first. This is the process of converting it from a liquid to a gaseous state. It’s flashpoint is also 140 degrees Fahrenheit. So this means while in it’s oil form it will not ignite and cannot produce heat! The nice thing about that is it makes the risk of fire or explosion non-existent!

However, kerosene is not as safe as heating oil tends to be. Unlike heating oil, it’s flash point is much lower. This can make it susceptible to fire or exploding. Additionally, during the burning process, kerosene produces carbon monoxide. So when burning kerosene, you must have proper ventilation or it can be a deadly mistake! Kerosene tanks must also always be outdoors.

The Differences in Pricing

Prices on heating oil are changing constantly. There’s a lot of different factors as to why this is. But usually, it’s related to what the dealers get oil for at the pump. These play a major role in what dealers charge you per gallon. Supply and demand also plays a big role in this which is why you’ll often see heating oil costs at their highest during the winter and their lowest during the summer. But global crises also play an important role in what the price per gallon is. In 2020, Covid-19 had everyone locked down in their homes. This brought the price per gallon to an all-time low. You would see the price per gallon as low as a ONE DOLLAR! However, the opposite happened in 2022, when Russia invaded the Ukraine. During this time we stopped buying Russian oil, which made our oil prices skyrocket.

This is a chart of heating oil prices up until 2020. You can see that they were at a high point back in 2009.

Additionally, heating oil tends to be much more competitive than kerosene is. This is due to the volume of dealers in your area. If there are more dealers in your area, then prices will tend to be lower. But if there are fewer dealers in your area, then prices will be higher. But regardless, this means that you’ll always have a dealer in your area that will be willing to deliver oil to your home! Using websites like FuelSnap, will help you get the cheapest price available to you!

However, kerosene is a bit different. The price for kerosene is dependent on a variety of different factors, similar to heating oil. Kerosene also tends to be harder to find, and is often pricier than heating oil. This is because not all dealers will offer kerosene. It’s also very constricting. If you manage to find a dealer that offers kerosene, then you might not get another option in the future. Because of this, you’ll have to stick with that dealer moving forward.

Which is the Better Option?

Without question, heating oil is the better option of the two. It’s safe and easy to come by, which makes it easier to order. It’s higher flashpoint makes the likelihood of an explosion or fire impossible. With it’s liquid state being non-flammable, you don’t have to worry about any risk in your home! You can even drop a lit match into a bucket of heating oil and it will extinguish! But, don’t try that at home because heating oil is smelly!

Kerosene does have it’s benefits, but it’s generally not as safe as heating oil. It’s lower flashpoint makes the possibility of fire or explosion more likley than with heating oil. I would definitely loose precious sleep with the fear of that happening! Plus, it’s lack if availability makes it hard to obtain and can often result in higher pricing. Finally, the added fact that it can produces carbon monoxide makes it less than appealing.

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Locking In a Price for Heating Oil

November 17, 2025August 11, 2025

Nowadays, heating oil prices are getting expensive. Especially so in the northeastern United States. This is often due to its ability to heat the home reliably and its capacity to produce a lot of heat. That can lead to high energy bills during the winter months of the year. If you’re afraid that prices are going up even more, then you might want to contact your heating oil company to lock in a price. But, should you? In this article, I’ll be answering whether or not locking in a price for heating oil is a good idea or not.

Varying Heating Oil Prices

How heating oil is priced, can tend to be pretty complex. The price per gallon is different depending on weather or not you’re using automatic delivery or call-by delivery. I discuss the major differences between them on our blog here. But it’s important to know that call-by is typically cheaper than automatic.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t sign up for automatic delivery. It’s very useful and convenient! However, it’s important to note that it’s more expensive than call-by is. You’ll end up paying more money annually than you should be for heating oil. But, keep your options open and I’m sure that you’ll end up finding a price that’s good for you!

Heating oil prices are expensive, so it’s important that you place an order when you absolutely need it and not just to top off your tank.

Heating Oil prices can vary depending on a multitude of different factors. One of the biggest reasons for this is what the dealer gets oil for at the pump. Like all businesses, they need to make a profit too. So what prices they charge depends on that first and foremost. However, global crises can impact pricing as well. COVID-19 is an example of this where oil was as low as it could get. Demand also plays a major roll in this. In the winter time, you’ll often see prices at their highest, because everyone wants heating oil to heat their home.

Market Pricing Through Automatic Delivery

If you’re going to go through Automatic Delivery, then understand that you’re going to be charged whatever the current rate is. This rate will usually depend on what the dealer sets it to. They’ll do this by taking the price that they pay for oil and adding an additional .80 to $1 per gallon. Now, it’s important that you understand that this is roughly 50 cents more than what you should be paying. Make sure you remember that if you want to order with automatic delivery. With automatic pricing, you will be locking a price per gallon, that is much higher than the base market price.

Market Pricing for Call-By Delivery

When you compare market pricing of call-by to automatic, call-by is usually always cheaper. This is because call-by delivery tends to be more competitive than automatic. It tends to be more competitive because you’re free to shop around for the best price. This incentivizes dealers to make the price per gallon lower, so that you buy their oil. These dealers want your business. Which is why they’ll mark down the price per gallon for will-call delivery. But, using helpful websites like FuelSnap, you’ll be able to get a better idea of what the best prices in your area are.

Fixing the Price Per Gallon: What some dealers will do is offer you a fixed price per gallon. How this works is you and your dealer will come to an agreement for a permanent price for your deliveries for a specific amount of oil. How much oil this regular scheduled delivery is depends on your yearly usage. However, while you’re locking in a price per gallon there might be additional fees mixed in there. This is why fixing a price per gallon tends to be a little bit of a double-edged sword. Even if the price decreases per gallon, you’re still going to have to pay the agreed-upon price with your dealer.

Capping a Price: Price capping tends to be a bit more enticing to the customer from the dealers end. What this pricing plan entails is that you’ll only have to pay up to a certain price. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, that’s because it is. With this plan, you have to pay a fee up-front, or the oil price becomes inflated. This means that they can simply charge you more to make a profit. Similar to fixing a price, if you cap a price and the price per gallon goes down, then you will still pay the capped price that you agreed on with your dealer. Your dealer is not required to drop the price if the price per gallon goes down.

Getting the Best Price Per Gallon

If you’re looking to save money on heating oil costs, then I highly recommend reading up on our article “The 10 Best Ways to Save On Heating Oil Costs”. There, I breakdown what the best ways are to save money on heating oil and break down which ways are best. But, when it comes to getting the best price per gallon, it’s safe to say that you should go with call-by delivery. This gives you the ability to shop around for the best prices available to you. But rest assured, when you order through call-by, you’re locking in a price. This means that after the order has been placed, the dealer CANNOT change the price per gallon.

If you decide to go with call-by delivery, then it’s best for you to go with our FuelSnap website. This is because we give you all the local dealers available to you on our program. You’ll be able to get the best price available to you on there! But, if you’re loyal to a particular dealer and they aren’t on there, please feel free to request them! You can also continue to order from them if you don’t want to order through FuelSnap!

But if you decide to do automatic delivery, we recommend that you pay the market price for it. Doing so will ensure that you don’t have to worry about extra fees or additional costs when you get your delivery! Just keep in mind that while this does give you a piece of mind, it can be more expensive and will cost you more money in the long run.

Happy Heating,

Hunter

How Long Will a Tank of Heating Oil Last You?

November 10, 2025June 23, 2025

If you use heating oil as your main source of heat or you’re thinking of switching to heating oil, or you might be burning a lot of oil. Well then you might be asking yourself, “How Long will a Tank of Heating Oil Last Me?”. Well, while it might not seem like it there’s actually a lot of different contributing factors as to how long a tank of heating oil will last you. Don’t worry, because I’m going to break it all down for you below!

The Size of Your Home

One of the biggest contributing factors to how much oil you’ll burn and how quickly you’ll go through your tank can be determined by various factors of your home. Surface area plays a big part in this and can determine how quickly you lose heat. If there are a lot of windows or drafty doors, this gives heat more surface area for it to escape from.

The larger your home, the more oil you’ll burn. Your home’s size plays a major role in how much you’ll burn!

The shape and layout of your home also influences heat loss. Ranch style homes are prime examples of this because they have a larger outside surface area per square footage. Especially for a two-story home. The more surface area on a home, means the more places for heat to escape from the home. Think of it like using mittens and gloves. In colder weather, when you wear mittens your hands will be much warmer than if you were wearing gloves. This is because your fingers are all touching each other and there’s less room for the heat to escape. With gloves, because each of your fingers are in their own individual slots, the heat will have an easier time escaping your hands.

Home Insulation

How well your home is insulated plays a major roll in how much heat will escape your it. If your home is well insulated, then that means that your home has an easier time maintaining heat. This will result in your home holding heat for longer periods of time if your home has good insulation.

However, if your home doesn’t have good insulation, then you’ll have a harder time maintaining heat. This can cause your home to lose the produced heat much faster, which will often result in higher heating oil usage. Drafty windows and doors are big contributing factors in this, because they tend to be the most reasoning for heat escaping your home.

Good home insulation will help keep the heat in your home! This means that you’ll use let oil overall.

What Your Heating Oil Is Used For

This is a major reason for how quickly you’ll burn through heating oil. Depending on what you use your heating oil for will greatly impact how quickly you burn through it. If you use heating oil for just hot water, then you’ll often find that it’ll take you longer to burn through the oil in your tank.

However, if you’re using it for both heat and hot water, then you’ll most certainly burn through heating oil MUCH faster than you normally would. This is because the oil in your tank is being used for more purposes which will result in an increase in usage.

Exterior Temperature

The temperature outside plays a huge roll in how much oil you’ll use. If the outside temperature is hot, then you’ll often see yourself burning far less oil than if it was cold outside. If the outside temperature is average or moderate, you might only really be burning a gallon or two if even.

Your average heating oil consumption will look something like this. This chart takes multiple home sizes and outside temperature into affect.

The average day during the winter is roughly 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Taking the average home into account which is roughly 2500 square feet, you can expect to burn around 5 gallons per day during the winter. During the summer however, this is reduced down to .5-1 gallon per day.

Your Yearly Usage

Taking into account the above math, I’ve compiled a chart that will help you better grasp how much oil you’ll burn yearly. Now this might not be exactly how much you’ll be burning annually. But it’ll still give you a solid estimate as for how many gallons you’ll be expected to burn.

On average, this is how much you’ll burn per year depending on your tank size.

The Size of Your Tank

Now, while the size of your tank doesn’t directly impact how much oil you’re burning, it does affect how often you’ll need to order more oil. The smaller your tank is, and the more often you’ll have to order oil. The opposite to true when it comes to larger tanks. You won’t have to order as often, but you’ll typically have to order in larger quantities.

With that in mind, regardless of how many gallons your tank’s capacity is, you should always order when your tank is a quarter or 1/4 full. This gives the dealer plenty of time to fit you into their schedule and come out to deliver heating oil. While you can use all the oil in your tank, ordering at a quarter gives you enough of a safety net where you know you’ll get oil before you run out.

275 gallon tanks are the most common tank sizes. 330 gallon tanks are a close second.

Now on a 275 gallon tank, on average you should expect to use roughly five gallons of oil per day. So if you divide 5 by 275, then you’ll get 36. So you’ll have 36 gallons of oil to burn before your tank runs empty!

Other Minor Factors

Those are all the major factors to keep a look out for. But, there are still some minor factors that can play into how quickly you burn through your oil. This could be if the house is occupied all year or if it’s just a vacation home. Or maybe you like to keep your home at 60 degrees Fahrenheit rather than 70. That 10 degree difference will often save you from burning a couple gallons of oil!

How old your burner is and it’s condition will effect consumption as well. Older burners tend to burn much more oil than newer ones because they need to work a lot harder to burn the oil in the tank. The difference between a twenty year old furnace and a year old furnace is astronomical.

But regardless of how much your burning, or how big your tank size is, a Smart Oil Gauge will be able to drastically help your heating oil journey. You’ll be able to monitor your heating oil properly and have all of your level data and usage information at the palm of your hand! Being able to order oil from the app too is such a big help! Using the FuelSnap integration will be able to give you a leg up on ordering oil when you need it!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

Heating Oil Delivery: The Step by Step Process

November 3, 2025June 20, 2025

To use heating oil in your home, you’ll have to get a delivery of it. But, you might be wondering how the tank filling process goes and how they fill your tank. Especially with a majority of home heating oil tanks being indoors, how does it get into the tank? Some of these tanks are even installed in really hard-to-access places, such as your crawl space.

Well, the nice thing is that dealers can fill your tank without even setting foot into your home! But how exactly does this work? This is all because the tank installed in your home has both a vent and fill pipe. These are essential for when it’s time to get a fill-up! These pipes are always located outside of your home. But the place as to where exactly they are located depends on your home and where the tank is. Each home is different after all!

Outdoor tanks are common nowadays. They provide easy accessibility for heating oil users, especially those that are using float gauges.

In this blog post, I’ll be covering all the different steps of the delivery process and how exactly it works!

The Components of your Tank

There are plenty of different styles of heating oil tanks. Some are larger, while others are smaller. But the interworking components of the tank will often be the same. The locations where these tanks are installed is usually the same as well. Either being indoors or outdoors. However, there are some rare instances where the tank is underground. If your tank is underground, I highly recommend removing it. I cover why exactly in this article here.

The fill and the vent pipes are some of the most important components when it comes to getting your tank fill-up. They extend from the top of your tank and will usually lead outside. These pipes have two different caps so that it’s easier for the driver to distinguish the difference between the two. The fill pipe has an unscrew able cap when compared to the vent cap that has a more rounded look to it, kind of like a mushroom cap.

These are the components of a heating oil tank. They all work in tandem with each other and will ensure your Smart Oil Gauge is accurate.

Another important component of your tank is the vent alarm or whistle. When the driver is filling your tank, the whistle will emit a loud whistling sound. That sound will alert the driver when it’s time to stop pumping oil in the tank. When the whistle stops making that sound, this means that the tank is full. It’s important to note that the dealer will not deliver to you if your tank’s vent alarm isn’t working.

How Many Gallons Should You Order?

The most important part of the delivery process is how many gallons that are going to be in your oil delivery. The dealer won’t be able to make the delivery without knowing how many gallons that they’ll be delivering. Plus, it’s nice to know exactly how many gallons oil you’ll be getting. Most of the time, you’ll end up ordering anywhere from 100-200 gallons of heating oil per delivery. However, this isn’t always the case if you’ve run out and need a fill up. If that’s the case, depending on your tank size the fill up could be vastly different. The driver will pump oil into your tank until they hear the whistle stop.

But how do you know how many gallons you’ll need to order and how many are in your tank? Well with the use of a tank gauge like the Smart Oil Gauge, you’ll be able to monitor your usage and get up to data readings of how many gallons are in your tank! Plus, you can even order oil through the app using our FuelSnap program.

Fill Pipe and Hose Connection

After the dealer receives your delivery ticket, they will know how many gallons they will need to deliver to you. They will schedule a time to come out and deliver your order to your home. When they arrive at your home, the driver will look for the fill pipe, which is located outside the home. If you know where it is, be sure to provide instructions on the order to where it is.

After locating the fill pipe, they will unscrew the cap and connect it to the truck’s hose. The driver will then go over to the truck and begin pumping oil into the tank. If your driveway is smaller, then the driver might park the truck on the street. But if your driveway is big enough, they will usually back up into your driveway for easy access to the fill pipe.

Pumping Oil Into the Tank

Once the driver finds the fill pipe, they’ll start pumping oil into the tank. For the driver to be able to start the flow of heating oil, the driver flips the nozzle of the hose, which allows heating oil to flow into your tank. But, they’ll usually only open the nozzle slightly to be able to properly hear the vent alarm. Otherwise, heating oil will start gushing into the tank! They do this to ensure that they’re not putting too much oil into the tank. Oil trucks can pump out a gallon of heating oil a second! So it’s important that they’re careful and pay attention!

Heating Oil trucks come equipped with a hose that connects to your fill pipe. This is how oil is put into the tank.

The driver will then start listening for the whistle. When the whistle stops blowing, the dealer will stop pumping oil into the tank. The trucks are metered, so when the delivery begins to reach your requested amount, the driver will stop pumping oil into the tank.

In the event of ordering a fill-up, the driver will keep filling the tank until they hear the whistle stop. This becomes a good indication that the tank has been filled and that the tank doesn’t require to be filled anymore.

The Order Slip

After the driver finishes the delivery, they will remove the nozzle of the hose from the fill pipe. Then, the driver will put the hose back into the truck. They will then begin preparing the delivery slip.

The order slip/delivery ticket, will now tell you various bits of important information. This will typically be the amount of oil that was delivered, the price per gallon, the amount ordered and sometimes how many gallons were already in the tank. Although, that tends to be pretty uncommon. This delivery slip is very useful especially during times where the tank wasn’t able to fit the requested amount. This gives an idea on the adjusted price and how much will be refunded to you.

Underground Tanks

In today’s day and age, these tanks tend to be very uncommon. But that doesn’t mean that these tanks don’t exist. These tanks are vastly different from above ground tanks, however, that can make deliveries a little bit more complicated. Unlike all above-ground tanks, there is no vent alarm on underground tanks. So oil companies will often have to stick-measure the tank first before making the delivery, and periodically stop the check and make sure that they aren’t over-filling the tank.

After the first stick measurement, the dealer will put roughly 100 gallons of oil into the tank before stopping. The driver will then go back over to the tank and stick measure it once again. Then, comparing it to the first reading, the driver will see if there’s a chance anymore oil can be put into the tank. If the tank can fit more oil, he’ll continue pumping. Otherwise, the driver stops filling the tank.

You can tell if your tank is underground buy looking for the vent and fill pipe sticking out of the ground like this.

However, on rare occasions, some drivers will carry around a special vent that’s designed to sit onto of the fill pipe. This special vent extends down to the tank underground to be able to determine when the driver needs to stop filling. Once the specialty vent threads into the fill pipe, the driver will know when they need to stop pumping.

Closing Thoughts

The process for an oil delivery is very straightforward. After placing the order, the dealer will come out and deliver your requested amount of oil into the tank. After making the delivery, the driver will go to the truck and will print out a delivery slip that has all the information regarding this delivery. Afterwards, you’ll know exactly how many gallons were delivered and at what price. If you’re on automatic delivery the driver will tell you exactly when they’ll be back out to deliver your next delivery. Otherwise, feel free to place another order once your tank level reaches one quarter.

If you’re curious about how the process goes visually, then feel free to ask the driver if you can watch! Most drivers are very friendly and will be happy to show you exactly what happens when they deliver the oil!

Happy Heating,

Hunter

The Different Types of Heating Oil Tank Gauges

October 27, 2025June 18, 2025

Nowadays, there are a lot of different ways to keep track of your heating oil level. However, the most important part of that is how you keep track of your heating oil. This could be either a float gauge, a stick, or even a Smart Oil Gauge. But most heating oil tanks come with a float gauge pre-installed on them. However, with the amount of gauges that there are to choose from, which one should you choose and why should you choose it? I’ll be going over all the different types of gauges and their benefits.

Using a Dipstick

The simplest way to measure your tank is by using a dip stick. Essentially, you open the fitting in your tank and put the dipstick in. Think of it like a large ruler, and after you stick your tank, you’ll get a reading in inches on the dipstick. This is as easy as sticking from one of the open fittings in your tank. But on tanks that are buried underground, you can stick the tank through the fill pipe. On underground tanks, this is your only option to measure the oil level.

Sticks will normally look like this. You can use these to take a measurement of the tank level inside the tank.

Important Note: If you have a buried oil tank, then you cannot use a regular gauge. You must stick the tank.

The Float Gauge

This is another very common way to measure the oil in your tank. These gauges are installed by default on your tank when you get it. They are metal arms connected to a cork bobber at the end that floats on the surface of the oil. The metal arms have a colorful disc at the end that will line up with a clear cylinder that has marks for the specific levels of oil. Now, it’s important to note that these gauges will only give an estimate and won’t always provide an accurate reading. They will only give you a rough estimate as to how much oil is in the tank.

A common float gauge will look like this. These gauges are standard on all heating oil tanks.

These gauges are very popular amongst heating oil users. They’ve been around for several decades and have shown to be very useful. But, over time these gauges can be less accurate. This is due to oil and sludge coating the bobber itself which can cause the gauge to read less oil than what’s actually in the tank. The sludge will actually bog down the bobber which can greatly affect the gauge’s accuracy. Due to that, these gauges need to be taken out frequently to be cleaned.

The Standard Smart Oil Gauge

The easiest and most modern way to monitor your tank level is with the Smart Oil Gauge! We have two different models. The standard and the Duo work similarly, but they have their differences. But both of these gauges can connect to your WIFI and upload both usage data and level readings to your phone through our app! Which means you can access your level data and usage from anywhere!

Standard Smart Oil Gauges will look like this. They have a white cap and a single sensor on the bottom.

Starting off with the standard model, this device has an operating range of 8″-72″ inches. This device is a single sensor device that has a 2″ NPT thread. Now, this device does have a little bit of a sensitivity when the tank is full, due to the single sensor. This means that when the oil is within the top 8 inches of the tank, the gauge won’t have enough room to send the signal properly. This can cause the device to read a little less than what’s actually in the tank. We have a more in-depth explanation of this on our website. You can find that here.

Now, we’ve fixed the sensitivity issue on the Smart Oil Gauge Duo. However, the standard Smart Oil Gauge can be used on fittings that are 1.25″ NPT. While the Duo cannot. So if your tank has a fitting of 1.25″ NPT, then you will need to use the Standard Smart Oil Gauge.

The Smart Oil Gauge Duo

This is our most recent sensor, and is currently our most accurate device. Like mentioned previously, this gauge doesn’t have a sensitivity when the tank is full. Instead, it’s got a dual sensor structure where one sensor sends while the other receives the signal. This makes the gauge’s operating range a little larger at 0″-72″ inches. So as long as the gauge is installed properly on the tank, the sensor will have no problem accurately reading the oil level.

Smart Oil Gauge Duos read the top 8-inches of the tank unlike the standard model thanks to it’s dual sensor.

Additionally, you can also take out the Duo’s interiors to troubleshoot incase you need to change the batteries or update the WIFI! So instead of having to go down to the tank location and staying down there to update the WIFI or swap out the batteries, you can go down to the tank location, take the interiors out and bring them upstairs or inside the home to do that!

Finally, like mentioned before, this device is not compatible with tank fittings that are 1.25″ NPT. This is due to the gauge’s sensor structure not being able to fit into a hole of that size. However, you can still use this gauge on Roth tanks and tanks that have a 1.5″ NPT fitting.

Which Gauge is best for you

Now, which gauge you use is up to you but also will often depend on your tank’s setup. For example, if your tank is buried underground outside, then your only option is the dipstick as it’s the only type of gauge that is accessible to underground tanks.

If you don’t mind going over to the tank to check it every so often, then the float gauge is good for you! This is preferred if your tank is easily accessible such as outside or in your garage. But if your tank is in a crawl space or somewhere that isn’t easily accessible, then the float gauge might not be best for you.

When comparing the three choices, the Smart Oil Gauge is the clear choice. But, your system might not be compatible with it.

Now, if your tank is not easily accessible or you’d rather have your level and usage data at the touch of your finger tips, then the Smart Oil Gauge is perfect for you! Having the device be able to conveniently read your level and report back to you when you need a fill up or when your tank is low is unparalleled! If you’d rather have a gauge with a larger operating range and easier to troubleshoot, then the Duo is for you! Otherwise, if you’re ok with the sensitivity that the standard model has, or your tank fitting is 1.25″ NPT, then the Standard Model is for you! But if you’re curious on what some other differences are, you can check out our article on those here!

Using this guide, you’ll be able to figure out and determine which gauge is right for you! Doing so will help you read and monitor your oil level and usage more efficiently!

Happy Heating,

Hunter