 About
Peaks Island Fuel: Peaks
Island Fuel was started in 1987 as fuel Co-op by a Group of
Independent Islanders searching to gain better control over their
energy options by coming together as group and forming a company that
treated each customer as an individual and searched to find the best
solution for their heating needs. Whether it was Oil, Propane or K-1,
Peaks Island fuel used technology, experience and care to make sure
that each customer got the most efficient, practical, and cost
effective solution tailored to that customers Individual heating
situation. Maybe a seasonal cottage required only a small space heater
to take the chill off those nippy spring and fall nights, or a year
round House required a Boiler that would stand up to a harsh island
winter - your neighbor from Peaks Island fuel Co-Op was there to
service and fuel your appliance. Its hard to believe over 20 years
have gone by since then and the oil industry, the island and Peaks
Island Fuel have gone through A LOT of changes some good - some not.
Sky rocketing energy prices, new technologies, new neighbors and some
different management, but the one thing that never changed was
Peaks Island Fuel always did its best to remember the customer, and
NOW were even better.
In March 2008 Peaks Island Fuel was purchased (after the sad passing
of our good friend Bill Portwine) by life long islander and long time
employee Keith Ivers who's grandfather John Feeney was an original
Member of the co-op.
As Peaks Island Fuel moves into the future with Keith Ivers as
President/Service Manager, some things have changed but the one thing that
hasn't changed is you can count on Peaks Island Fuel to find the most
efficient, practical and cost effective solution to fit your
individual situation and budget. If It's Oil, Propane, K1, OR NOW
SOLAR Peaks Island Fuel will do its best to keep you happy and
warm on those nippy nights or through the harsh Island winter. Just
like is says on our trucks Peaks Island Fuel is THE COMPANY WITH A
HEART.
What is a "Degree Day" and how does it work?
Our automatic oil delivery depends on a degree day system that helps us keep track of how cold it is and when you need an oil delivery.
Most homes start using their heating systems when the outside temperature falls below 65 degrees. A degree-day is the average number of degrees below 65 on a given day. For example, if the average temperature on October 22nd is 55 degrees, we would say that 10 degree-days accumulated on October 23rd (65 - 55 = 10). If the average temperature on October 23rd is 50 degrees, that would mean that 15 degree-days (65 - 50 = 15) accumulated on October 23rd. Add the degree days together (10+15=25) and we see that 25 degree-days have accumulated since October 22nd. We keep this up throughout the entire heating season. During a typical heating season in Maine, we accumulate about 6,500 + degree-days.
Depending on the size and construction of a home (and how high the thermostat is set), the home will use a relatively constant amount of oil for every degree-day. A small home might use one gallon of oil for every 10 degree-days, where as a large home might use once gallon of oil for every two degree-days. This is expressed as a "Consumption Factor" or "K Factor". So a small home would have a K Factor of 10 ( 10 degree-days for every one gallon of oil) and the large home would have a K Factor of two (two degree-days for every one gallon of oil)
Once our computer system determines a home's K Factor (usually after two or three deliveries) we then can project when we need to make a delivery.
For Example:
A home with a K Factor of five has a 275 gallon oil tank. Since we try to deliver oil when the tank is still 1/3 full, in this case we target a delivery of 180/gallons to a 275 tank. Since we know that the K Factor is 5, and since we want to make a delivery of at least 180/gallons we know that we should delivery oil to this house every 900 degree-days (5 x 180 = 900)
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