Is there a heating oil shortage?

It looks like a 250 gal tank, and it likely heats the house and your water as well. You should be fine with about 60 gallons left, but if you are concerned, turn the thermostat down some, and try to use an electrical heater or two if you have them, or an electric blanket, thermals, etc... If you don't have any, call someone nearby to help out.

Even though your furnace will probably heat throughout the house, the room where the thermostat is will tell the heater when to kick on, so if you have an upstairs, close those doors (Assuming the thermometer isn't in those rooms), because heat will want to rise to the higher portions of the house and make the heater kick on more. If your bedroom is up there, either open that room up during the night, or maybe sleep on the couch downstairs if it doesn't bother you too much.

If you have an electric range, you can use that for supplemental heat (Burners on low settings). If it's a propane stove, probably not a good idea in case you fall asleep or get too much CO2 in the air. Keep after the fuel company (Squeeky wheel gets greased).
 

The interstates haven’t been too great lately for the tankers carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel oil from the refinery to the local oil companies. Your local company may be running low themselves. Best you can do is keep an eye on the gauge and call back as soon as your gauge drops below 20%.

My thermostat is set at 60 degrees and it’s running a lot, I have propane. My local company wants me to call them when I hit 31%. Sometimes I call them sooner because there is no winter maintenance on my 1-1/2 Lane road that looks like it is straight out of deliverance. If it ices over on the big hills, getting a propane delivery truck up here isn’t gonna happen so I call them anyway to come early.
 
The company I was buying fuel oil from at my former house wouldn't deliver to my new house unless I had a lot of repairs done to the tank - new vent pipe and replacing the copper line from the tank to the furnace.

I inquired at the last local fuel business and it's the same story added to the fact they only accept debit ot credit card payments.
 
debodun said:
The company I was buying fuel oil from at my former house wouldn't deliver to my new house unless I had a lot of repairs done to the tank - new vent pipe and replacing the copper line from the tank to the furnace.

I inquired at the last local fuel business and it's the same story added to the fact they only accept debit ot credit card payments.
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Those are safety issues which need to be addressed.
What type of payment a company accepts is up to the company. Processing a check from receiving it to it actually clearing takes several days and costs overhead.
 
CallMeKate said:
Glad to hear you'll be toasty warm now for a while again! (y)
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I wouldn't be so worried if it was warm weather. The only fuel used then is to heat the hot water line. If it really cold, my pipes could freeze which I worry about more than just being cold.
The first March I was in my new home, I woke up to a cold house. My first thought was I had run out of oil, but on checking the tank discovered this wasn't the problem. I called the oil man came within 2 hours and had to replace some sensor on the furnace.
 
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debodun said:
I wouldn't be so worried if it was warm weather. The only fuel used then is to heat the hot water line.
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I have radiant heating and the furnace is the water heater as well (no separate unit.) The only issue there's been in 20 years is when the regular oil guy died a few years ago... the account was switched over to a new company automatically, but there wasn't a note that oil was used year-round for water, too. Got right between 1/4 and empty and had to call... they hadn't known that's what kind of system it was.
 
CallMeKate said:
I have radiant heating and the furnace is the water heater as well (no separate unit.) The only issue there's been in 20 years is when the regular oil guy died a few years ago... the account was switched over to a new company automatically, but there wasn't a note that oil was used year-round for water, too. Got right between 1/4 and empty and had to call... they hadn't known that's what kind of system it was.
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Sounds similar to my situation. The new company never inspected my system. If they did, they may not want to deal with a PVC vent like the other fuel companies don't. The guy that retired said he had no problem with it. I don't know what the issue they have with a PVC vent.
 
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I did a few calculations on costs. In the UK, we measure fluids by litres, so by converting your 182 US gals to litres, getting the GBP cost and converting it to USD at current exchange rate , It came out at a little less than your cost - assuming that you use kerosene as we do. Surprising as US costs always seemed to be lower.
 
To answer the question for the whole U.S. :

is there a shortage of heating oil

There is no widespread heating oil shortage in the U.S., but supplies are tight due to factors like reduced refining capacity and transportation bottlenecks. Distillate inventories, including heating oil, are below the five-year average, particularly in regions like the Northeast, which could face temporary disruptions or price spikes during high demand periods this winter[1][5]. However, refiners are maximizing production, and there is enough overall supply to meet national needs[1].
 
Paco Dennis said:
To answer the question for the whole U.S. :

is there a shortage of heating oil

There is no widespread heating oil shortage in the U.S., but supplies are tight due to factors like reduced refining capacity and transportation bottlenecks. Distillate inventories, including heating oil, are below the five-year average, particularly in regions like the Northeast, which could face temporary disruptions or price spikes during high demand periods this winter[1][5]. However, refiners are maximizing production, and there is enough overall supply to meet national needs[1].
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We had homes in six US states so far. Never had a system using oil.
 
If you have a new / modern Panel box, just add the Wall Mounted Heat Pump / Electric heat
as you wish for back up. It most likely will be more bill efficient too. I once had a Holly Park mobile home,
Added them to the front and back. They came on if the pilot light blew out on the Furnace. Later I
added Pilot Auto light to the Furnace, then just lowered the Thermostat to 66 F. letting the heat pump at the
rear of the Mobile home to efficiently heat the bedrooms 72 F. Added & shut the hall door to the front half of the
Mobile home. It worked well, especially at -0 F. temp nights of the North.

I still use that option in my Stick home. Natural gas during the day and Heat pump at night. Usually busy in the morning
and the front half of the home is comfortable enough, Stove Breakfast warms the kitchen quickly, then turn the Temp a lil.
 

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