After a roller-coaster winter like we had, with mostly mild temperatures and very little snow, punctuated by bitter cold spells, it can be hard to gauge how much fuel you might have used over the season. Do you need a heating oil delivery to get you through the home stretch of March? The number of heating oil deliveries you’d need in a winter always depend on two main factors: the size of your tank and the weather. The colder it is, the more heating oil you burn, although more efficient equipment combined with a well-sealed and insulated home will use less fuel. As a general rule of thumb, a 275-gallon tank will last between a month and six weeks, depending on how cold it is. That’s for a 2000-square foot home with a 275-gallon tank, but it should be about the same timing for a larger home with a larger tank. But when temperatures seesaw like they did this year, it’s hard to gauge your use.
Here’s how to tell if it’s time for a heating oil delivery, and how to eliminate the need to guess.
If you like to call to schedule your heating oil deliveries, you should let us know when your tank is at about 25% or a quarter full. That ensures we have time to dispatch your delivery before you run out of fuel. That means you need to check the gauge on your heating oil tank regularly, and more often during extra cold weather. If you forget, and order when your tank is empty or almost empty, an emergency fill-up will cost extra. Plus, you run the risk of losing your heat—which can lead to frozen pipes and more expensive repairs.
Or, you can enroll in convenient automatic delivery service.
Automatic delivery is exactly what it sounds like: We automatically deliver heating oil when you need it. It’s a free service that we offer our customers. It makes your life easier, and helps us too: We can plan delivery routes efficiently, which helps us keep our costs down and our trucks on time.
So, how do we know when you need a delivery? It’s not a crystal ball. We use a proven system based on your typical usage and the weather to know when you will need a heating oil delivery. If there’s been a stretch of serious cold, or if there’s a big storm in the forecast, we adjust our delivery schedule to make sure none of our customers run out of heating oil.
Our delivery drivers really appreciate it when you keep a path open to your fill pipe, especially after a big snow. It’s important to make sure your fill pipe is unobstructed year-round, so always clear fallen branches and leaves, and take a few extra minutes to shovel a path to your pipe. Also, don’t forget to secure pets on delivery days. This is for safety’s sake as much as making our drivers’ job a little easier.
We understand you’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to heating oil dealers. There’s a reason so many of your neighbors in Suffolk and Nassau counties choose Southville. We’re here for you not just for heating oil deliveries, but we’ve got you covered with convenient services (like automatic deliver and money-saving service plans) that give you real value, not just a cheap price per gallon.
Contact us today to learn more and become a customer.