People always ask us how we know when our Automatic Delivery customers need a fill-up of heating oil. The simple answer—we use data culled from your average usage patterns and the real-time weather conditions. But the secret to accurately calculate when you will need fuel is actually the degree day.
You’re probably wondering, though: what the heck is a degree day?
A degree day is a unit of measure for knowing how hot or cold it has been over a 24-hour period, comparing the mean temperature for the day to a base value of 65˚ Fahrenheit. The idea is that when the outside temperature is 65˚, we don’t need to use heat OR air conditioning. Degree-day information helps us keep track of how much fuel you’ve needed to keep your home warm on a particular day. The more degree-days, the more fuel you’ve used and the sooner you’ll need a propane or heating oil delivery to your Central Suffolk County or Eastern Nassau County home.
Here’s how you calculate degree-days for heating your home:
For example: Let’s say that the high temperature on a given day is 33˚ Fahrenheit and the low temperature is 25˚F.
Add 33 and 25, and then divide by 2. That gives you 29. Subtract 29 from 65, and you have 36 heating degree-days. We stack these numbers against the size of your tank, and your typical usage under similar conditions, and can accurately calculate when you’ll need your next fill-up.
Because we take your typical use into consideration, you need to let us know if you make any major changes to your home or lifestyle that could affect your usage. One recent example is that when more people were home all day, all week long because of remote work and school, they were using more fuel. If everyone is now back to work in the office and school, let us know so we can adjust our calculations—you’ll be using far less fuel than you were prior!
You don’t need to be good at math to know that running out of heating oil in the middle of winter is a giant hassle. It’s not only inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it’s expensive and potentially dangerous. Your home is cold, putting your pipes in danger of freezing. Using Will-Call for your deliveries puts you at risk of running out, because it’s easy to forget to check your heating oil tank gauge levels, and if the weather has been extra cold, you may use more fuel than usual.
With Automatic Delivery, that task is taken off your to-do list! We’ll use the data from degree-days to help calculate when you’ll need heating oil or propane, and then will schedule a delivery to your home before you run low. Instead of waiting for the first available delivery time with Will-Call, Automatic Delivery is designed for maximum efficiency in fuel delivery service.
Make your life easier by signing up for Automatic Delivery from Southville Petroleum. Contact us today for more information!