– Follow this easy method and your roasties will be perfect every time. Crunchy outsides and fluffy middles: that’s how roast potatoes should be. First thing, choose the right variety. Use any floury variety: King Edwards, Maris Piper, either will be absolutely great. The second thing to do is cut them to the right sort of size. Halved, they are all about a uniform size and drop them into cold water and then bring them up to the boil. Parboil and drain the potatoes. Over a low heat just given them a little shake in the pan just to burn off any of that residual moisture in the pan so you end up with completely dry potatoes. At the same time take your roasting tray out of the oven where you should have been heating some vegetable oil. Got about an inch of oil in there, that’s heated through and now give them a good shake to get them really scuffed up and then move them into that pan. Now try not to be tempted to tip them all in straight from the pan because you can actually splash the oil. So use a ladle, take a little bit of time. Once they are all in there you are just going to spoon them around a little bit and make sure they’ve all got a lovely coating of that oil. Now make sure that that oil is really, really hot. It’s essential that the potatoes go in when the oil is hot otherwise they’ll just kind of absorb that oil and you won’t get that crispy finish which is what I think is a key part of perfect roast potatoes. Pop that in the oven, about 180-190 degrees <b>…</b>
Heating Oil Secrets and Tips
I have just been hired by a home heating oil company in NY. I want to start branching out into sales but I really have no clue how to go about it… thanks for you help everyone!!!
I think you may visit these websites, they may be helpful. Good Luck!
http://www.saveonhomeheatingoil.com/
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200806/1213736651.html
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=1056497
http://www.toolboxtales.com/heating-and-cooling/home-heating.aspx?gclid=CLWVivPOsJQCFQQbFQodsXcsuQ
This is also some government references for home heating oil sales:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/sup/Chap296a.htm
Books about home heating oil:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-1184200-4478867?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=home+heating+oil&x=8&y=11
I am thinking for next winter about possibly using space heaters. Or even an electric fireplace which would be both pleasing to the eye and warm. I live in New England.
A wood stove! Why didn’t I think of this before… I guess I had to post the question to realize the answer myself… ;-D
Don’t forget the old standbys: insulation, air infiltration (does your local power company offer energy audits?), poor heat circulation within a room (are you heating the ceiling while your feet freeze?), more efficient windows and/or window films, insulated draperies or shutters closed at night, and the remarkably effective old camping standby that if your hands or feet are cold, put on a hat (up to 30% of body heat is lost through the head).
The very cheapest energy is that which you do not use.
One thing you do have to be careful of with a tighter and possibly cooler house: condensation on interior surfaces is a leading cause of mold. Air to air heat exchangers can increase air circulation while retaining heat.
I live on the 1st floor of a 2 floor house with a basement. I pay for my own heating oil on a budget plan (this is the first time I’ve ever used oil for heat/hot water). Does anyone have any tips for getting the most out of the oil in the tank? I’m trying to leave leave the heat off for as long as I can. When it gets cold I turn it up to about 65 for ten minutes just to heat the place (about 1225 square ft) and then shut it off. Thanks!
use it less… wear a sweater
We just bought a home and the heating is oil. Is there any tips on what temp to keep the heat on when it’s oil? Or other tips on how to save. With gas we would keep the thermostate at 60 when we left for the day and higher it when we came home. Not sure what to do with oil.
Looking for actual helpful answers.
1 Turn Thermostat down
2 Turn off or turn down radiators that are not used.
3 Bleed your sytem
4 Balance your sytem.
I have just received a quote of 60p a litre for 28sec central heating oil. My boiler is now 10 years old, I service it myself, cleaned out and new nozzle fitted two months ago. Given the price of fuel oil I would like to make it more efficient and wonder if you have any tips? What about any special heat absorbing coatings for the baffle plates or whatever?
Thankyou,
Rowdyyates.
Modern oil fired boilers now come as condensing units,they extract latent heat from the flue gases to work more efficiently.
Replacing your old boiler for a new one will save you on fuel.
Consult an oftec engineer.
never had oil heat moving into a 3bdr apartment plan on keeping the heat on 60, but the oil also heats my water, so with 2 kids need to make it last as long as possible.
Keep your appartment on 55 and wear sweaters during the day.
Turn it down to 50 at night and use an extra WOOL blanket.
Turn it up in the morning to 55 again.
Take showers instead of baths. Lower the hot water thermostat to very warm, not HOT.
We have a 500 gallon oil tank and are trying to figure out how much oil is in the tank. Any tips on measuring and figuring out how many gallons is in the tank?
it sounds to me that you have a buried tank its probably 550 gals thats the most widely used… if you have a direct fill where the pipe goes straight into the tank then you can measure the oil with a long firring strip about 8 ft long.if you fill pipe is not straight into the tank where it may have an elbow fitting on the pipe then its impossible. most oil companies keep record of the houses consumption if that tank was serviced by an automatic delivery system.. if so call them and they’ll give you a good idea.every inch of oil in your tak is approx 10 gals
I have an older round thermostat for my oil-burning heating system, and I just bought a digital model on clearance. I’ve changed light fixtures, installed ceiling fans, and done some other simple electrical work. Will I be able to change this thermostat easily? Anything I should watch out for? Or, any handy tips?
You should be able to handle a thermostat. Heat only, two wires.
Heat/cool ,4 wires. There should be a jumper that goes from RC to RH, on some models. But, White to W terminal, Red to R terminal (Jumper to RH and RC) Green to G terminal and yellow or blue to the Y terminal. Level and secure to wall with anchors. Read instructions on t-stat for any specifics, but basically that is it. Change 1 wire at a time from thermostat to thermostat. Shut off power to oil burner before starting.
Which one is best? My mom’s tank for her oil based furnace has racked so now she is left with the option of getting a new one or getting another way to cool/heat the house. Any suggestions? Which one heats/cools better? which one is more cost effecient? which one is better for the environment?
any tips would be definetely appreciated.
Allot depend on your location. Heat pumps are very efficient in moderate climates. Geothermal is initially very expensive but very efficient. With the price of oil I would be concerned with any carbon based fuels.
My 2 bed ground floor apartment is part of a 2 family unit. We moved in feb1st and by march 1st we had gone through an entire tank. When we first moved in we put a 100 gallons in at $3.40 a gallon. Not 2 weeks later we had to put in another 150 gallons as we ran out. After 3 weeks, again our tank is on empty. I have ordered a further 50 gallons. Thats 300 gallons in just over a month. Surely there is something wrong with this?
I have heard that people spend this over the whole winter to heat 3 bed houses and the likes, but my apartment is a ground floor 2bed.
We do have the heat on at 70 as the weather in Boston has been pretty bad, but still $1000 a month is harsh.
Does this seem normal to anyone? My colleagues reckon that im heating the other apartment as well, but need to check before i make accusations. how can i know that this is not the case without having to pay someone to inspect?
Anyways i have decided that i can not afford $1000 a month to heat the place so we have put in notice and moving to another apartment that uses electricity only. I have checked and this apartment is an average of $125 a month, and the apartment is bigger than our current apartment.
My wife is furious and thinks we are being scammed. Are there any tips to see if this is the case?
There are two tanks with 2 fill points in the basement so that always leads us to believe that they have their own supply.
Still can not understand how in one month we have gone through 300 gallons. Im going to go into the basement tonight to see if there is anything obvious, but to be honest im not sure what it is i should look for.
The way that I would handle this is to turn my tank off for a day. Like maybe on a Saturday. Then go to the mall or a long trip to stay warm. See if the neighbor upstairs starts complaining of no heat.
I think really your idea to move is probably the best choice. This scenario has most likely been going on for some time. Maybe even the neighbor upstairs found a way to connect to the downstairs tank while the downstairs area was vacant. At any rate, if you can afford it, move and get out of that situation. Personally I hate to move, but this situation sounds like a good reason to beat feet.
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Oh, hey, I just read “Freedom’s” idea. I’d try that too. Get the local building inspector involved.