Fuel for Thought

Summer can be a tough time for a heating system and its components with the damp weather causing condensation in boilers and furnaces that are shut down and oil tanks that have a low level of oil. 

Many of you may remember that Crowley Fuel has developed a furnace that burns 100% biofuel and is powered by solar panels.  We have this equipment mounted onto a trailer that we make available to school groups and other groups for educational purposes.  For those of you that do not know biofuel is made from oil that is derived from a plant or animal base.  The biofuel that we have been using was made from soybean oil that emits a non-toxic and not unpleasant odor from the flue pipe. 

The topic for this week is the Small Wood Pellet Boiler Pilot Grant Program again.  We have been receiving approval notices for the first applications that we have made for installing central pellet boilers in the homes of our customers.  We have several applications in for installations that are in the process of being approved.

I am pleased to announce that Crowley Fuel is in the process of becoming an installer of Windhager wood and wood pellet burning boilers.  I have met with a representative for this Austrian Company who was looking for a competent and reputable heating system installer to cover the Central Massachusetts area.

Great news!  We have just mailed out our PrePaid Cap Contracts to the customers who were on that price protection program last year.  The great news is that the prices are the same as last year.  We had a small window of opportunity in which to buy oil for this program and we were able to keep the cap price at $3.50 per gallon with a fee of $.25 per gallon.

Now is the time to replace your old heating system!

I just received information about a rebate program available to customers of NSTAR and National Grid for replacing functioning 30 year old boilers.  This rebate is available for customers who currently use gas or heating oil but does not apply for those planning to change fuels. 

Last fall I blogged about how the North Brookfield Recycling and Transfer Station was going to start collecting wood pellet bags for recycling.  I am happy to say that they have been taking bags for the past 3 months and it seems to be going well.  Some wood pellet burners who do not live in North Brookfield have had family or friends who do live in town bring their bags in for them. 

I was reading a trade magazine for the heating oil industry called "Oil and Energy" recently and found some information in the April edition that you may find interesting.  There was a hedging survey that was conducted among some large New England Oil Suppliers and some hedge fund companies who work with retail heating oil companies.  Unless you have some interest or knowledge about hedging or buying fuel you would not find the majority of this article very interesting.

Crowley Fuel has been very busy lately replacing oil fired forced hot water boilers for customers who have taken advantage of the MassSave zero percent loan and rebate program.  If you are a customer of National Grid or NStar you qualify for this program!  It's that simple.  Just go to www.masssave.com or call 866-527-7283 to get the process started.  It involves an energy auditor coming to your home to find out which of their programs you are eligible for.

Those of you who have been using wood pellets to heat your home know that one of the biggest problems with them is consistency.  Many pellet burners have horror stories about the bad bag or bags of pellets that they have gotten in the past.  These may or may not have been caused by poor quality pellets; not all pellet stove problems are because of poor quality pellets.  If you open a bag and sawdust pours out or if your pellets are too long or too short or both, then you have an obvious pellet quality problem right out of the bag.  Other pellet quality problems like too much ash or too many clinkers or augers plugged with fines will not show themselves until you start burning them.