Diesel fuel has SKYROCKETED

[Josephine96]

I am glad I don't drive anything with a diesel engine..

The price for diesel fuel has skyrocketed around here.. Just a few months ago it was around $1.60..

Now it's almost $2.. Has this happened anywhere else or is it just me..?

[BEER980]

You are indirectly paying for it as well.

[Josephine96]

How is that..? lol

[BEER980]

Well almost everything you buy came by truck. A good deal of the trucking companies pass the increase in diesel alon to whoever is paying for the shipping. Right now our company is adding a 10% surcharge to all shipments. This surcharge is recalculated every week with the new price per gallon by the WSJ I think. So let's say you ship 20 items on a skid to a business. The normal cost to ship it would be $200 but now it is an additional $20. Now the business on the other end will make $1 less per item if they don't pass it along. Most can take a short term loss but this has been increasing all year.

[coriolis]

...and heating oil will be right behind! Grrrrrr.

[David]

1.95 here...

[Lindaloo]

Don't forget natural gas.

[Miss Mary]

Several years ago when natural gas (what we heat with) went way up, we lowered our thermostat to 65, day and night. Took some getting used to but we managed - piling on sweaters, slippers, longjohns, beds with electric blankets, LOL! Now they're saying it's going up even more this winter. Sigh. Jim jokes we'll set it on 52.....MEN! I think 65 is as low as we can go. I should add that the back of our house (family room, kitchen, hall to upstairs bedrooms) faces south and has many windows. So if it's sunny out on a cold winter day, my house is very warm. Highest bill that one winter was $370. I shudder to think what this winter's bills will be....

Mary

[frankthetank]

WOW! $370 and you keep it @ 65F...Ever think about turning if off and going to Florida or Arizona? I've kept mine under 60F for the past few years, it takes some getting used to and you have to dress for it!

[Miss Mary]

Yes it was $370. Get this, my husband's brother's family had a bill close to $800 - they refuse to lower their thermostat below 72 and keep every room heated in the winter. Even the unused basement. I thought $370 was better than what they paid then. This was about 4 years ago....January? Which is usually our coldest month in Cincinnati. We also use gas for the hot water heater and you have to remember that included electric, not just gas. And we even shut off rooms we don't use!

Mary

[frankthetank]

My brother bought a pellet stove late last winter and finally got it running last week... I'm jealous and want one too... Woodstoves are nice, but a pellet stove can be left unattended (IMO) for a day or more...

My highest bill last year (i would have to dig it out) was in the low 70's If i remember correctly... 2 bedroom townhouse (2 stories)...

Currently sitting @ a balmy 65F in SW Wisconsin...

[Miss Mary]

We've stayed in cabins with pellet stoves before (Hocking Hills, Ohio). I was very impressed with them! And we would go off hiking for a few hours, leaving it unattended (we followed the instructions). Sure was nice to wake up to with a cup of coffee on a chilly morning. I've joked I want one in our kitchen......but in time, we'll have a gas fireplace in the basement (we roughed in the gas line for later use). Our daughter is allergic to peanuts and we had heard the pellets are often made out of peanuts. We almost had to check out of our cabin until we read the pellet bag carefully (good thing the cabin's manager/owners left the bag next to the pellet bucket!). Other than that, a pellet stove is a good investment, a clean source of controlled heat.

Mary

[Sanibel]

There are some very efficient wood burning stoves available. You can install a super-efficient wood burner along with a hot water cistern system with a large concrete or insulated steel tank.

What it does is burn about 7 logs in the morning in a stove that uses all the heat energy in the wood to heat the water in the cistern hot. It also emits little smoke because it burns so hot. This hot water then circulates in the baseboards or in floor pipes to heat the house evenly. Around evening you burn another 7 logs to keep it hot.

Combine this with an insulated southern-facing house with heat collecting windows and you can cut way down on fuel bills...

[Miss Mary]

My dad was a carpenter by trade and worked in the construction business for decades. He built several of the houses I grew up in. Then my brother went into drafting. I developed an interest in blueprints/floor plans, looking at home remodeling magazines, etc. Always going to the next Homerama in Cincinnati. I guess it's just in my blood, this interest in housing trends. For one example, I'm fascinated by Sears pre-fab homes sold as kits, after WW2. A tad off subject, I'm sure they're very inefficient in heating and cooling....back on track. Years ago I read an article about a different way to build your dream home. The owner chose adobe walls, that were almost a foot thick. She intentionally positioned the rooms she'd use the most in the back, facing south. The front contained the entry, U-shaped stairs, half bath, laundry room, then the back had a simple but modern kitchen, dining area, living room. 2 bedrooms up, connecting bath between them. Entire home was less than 1200 sq foot. She heated the entire house with radiant floor heating. Over poured concrete that she had tinted colors. The front of the house had fewer windows, since they faced north. She stated that her house was very cool in the summer, and very warm in the winter. Her heating bills were I want to say in the $40-50 range a month, much cheaper than her neighbors (she lived out west)! That one house and the concept behind it made complete sense to me at the time. Still does but I could never get my husband to go for these what he'd say wacky ideas....

Mary