Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post - Saving oil

Loony Singer · 03-15-2010, 03:32 PM

Good question....we have one of these gizmos, and I have mixed feelings about it.

We have propane heat and put an Intellicon in a couple of seasons back. The first winter, we had a problem with the sensor and the controller took itself out of the loop. So we saw no benefit at all.

This year after replacing the sensor, it's worked fine. But honestly, there are just too many variables to know if there has been a real savings or not...every winter is different. The controller itself does a little calculation to determine what % savings you have achieved. According to that, we've used somewhere around 20-25% less fuel than we would have without it, but who knows if that's at all accurate.

The other thing I would consider is whether you want to install it yourself or not. I'm reasonably handy and can read a schematic and splice wires, but I got cold feet...I wanted a neat, professional installation and was worried that if I messed something up, we could end up with real problems in the cold weather. So in my case, I had to add the cost of installation to the cost of the controller in trying to determine if the Intellicon would pay for itself or not.

I should mention that our place sits unoccupied in the winter with the heat turned way down, except for a few short visits. I don't think we get the same savings as someone keeping the house at a more liveable temperature through the heating season.

Hope this is helpful...

03-15-2010, 03:32 PM	#2
Loony Singer Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Moultonborough Posts: 110 Thanks: 34 Thanked 16 Times in 11 Posts	hard to tell... Good question....we have one of these gizmos, and I have mixed feelings about it. We have propane heat and put an Intellicon in a couple of seasons back. The first winter, we had a problem with the sensor and the controller took itself out of the loop. So we saw no benefit at all. This year after replacing the sensor, it's worked fine. But honestly, there are just too many variables to know if there has been a real savings or not...every winter is different. The controller itself does a little calculation to determine what % savings you have achieved. According to that, we've used somewhere around 20-25% less fuel than we would have without it, but who knows if that's at all accurate. The other thing I would consider is whether you want to install it yourself or not. I'm reasonably handy and can read a schematic and splice wires, but I got cold feet...I wanted a neat, professional installation and was worried that if I messed something up, we could end up with real problems in the cold weather. So in my case, I had to add the cost of installation to the cost of the controller in trying to determine if the Intellicon would pay for itself or not. I should mention that our place sits unoccupied in the winter with the heat turned way down, except for a few short visits. I don't think we get the same savings as someone keeping the house at a more liveable temperature through the heating season. Hope this is helpful...