Total Energy News and Insights

During the latter part of the Summer Florida and Texas were hit hard by hurricane Irma and Harvey. These hurricanes left massive amounts of destruction in their wake, leaving these area in need of help. In response the Santoro Family of Companies donated $10,000 to the relief effort in Texas. They have also sent several oil trucks to the relief effort in Florida to help bring fuel back into the area. We will update this post with photos of the relief effort in Florida.

Summer is Coming to a Quick End No matter what year after year, season after season, summer always goes by faster than any other season. Each season of course has there own strong points; fall has the leaves and cool nights, spring everything is coming back to life, winter has snow (if you like that stuff), and summer has the beach, pool parties, perfect outdoor weather. The Summer however is quickly coming to an end that means that soon you'll be heating your home again. We've touched on this subject before but there are plenty of factors to consider when picking an oil company if your new to oil. It's good to take a look at your oil company too, some of the things you should look at is price, service provided, services you'll need, and efficiency.  Many oil companies out there will try to rope people in with a low first delivery price and they jack the price up considerably. It is common for a company to offer a first delivery price, the key is to find out what

Get the Equipment you Want for Less If you're in the market for new heating equipment or cooling equipment wouldn't it be great if you could get the equipment for less.  In Massachusetts there is a program call Mass Save that thanks to a small tax in your pay check you can qualify for rebates on heating and cooling equipment, insulation, light bulbs, and appliances. Most heating and cooling equipment is expensive ranging anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 or more depending on how many you buy. These are necessary purchases to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer. So it is important that you consult your heating and cooling company to ensure the system you're getting meets the requirements so you get the maximum rebate. The rebates aren't just there to help out homeowners by reducing the price of the equipment. The rebates are there to help get homeowners to upgrade their existing older equipment to more energy efficient equipment. Newer heating and cooling

Do you turn off your thermostat or burner? For many of us turning off your heat is a welcomed break from the cold and the start of warmer weather. When it comes to turning off your heat for the summer there are a few things your should consider before your flip the switch. All oil burning homes will have a emergency oil burner switch in the home, usually found at the top of the stairs that head down to the basement. There is a switch that can be found on the heating system itself that will also turn off your heating system. This can be used as the turn off for the heating season switch, when you're familiar with your home's heating demands. New homeowners who aren't familiar with the way your heating system works shouldn't use this method as a way to turn off your heat for the season.  Many homes use an indirect water heater for the home's hot water, this uses the boiler or furnace's heat to heat your hot water. During the winter months this is essent

What do you do when it feels like Fall instead of Spring Mother's Day is right around the corner, Memorial day and the unofficial start of Summer is a few weeks ahead. The temps should be getting warmer or at least staying in the 60's, but the next week is going to feel more like Fall than Spring. With night time temps dipping into the high 30's and low 40's I've found myself turning on my heat for an hour or so to get the cold out. Many of us turn off our heating systems for the Spring and Summer once we see temps in the 70's. A few weeks ago we had a 80 degree days and now we'll be lucky to see temps in the 60's. You can turn on your heating system to get the cold out but there are a few other things you can do to combat the colder temps. Keeping the window shades open during the day to let in the sun's natural warmth will help keep your home comfortable. Make sure to close them during the evening to trap the warm air in. If you want t

Smart Thermostats almost always require them. The internet of things is on the rise and one of the easiest and most useful applications of this is the smart thermostat. Popular smart thermostats that come to mind at the Nest, Ecobee, and the Honeywell Lyric most of these and other smart thermostats that come with WiFi. Installing these thermostats can be tricky due to the C-Wire or Common Wire. For thermostat installations you need to have a set of wires that run from your heating and/or cooling system to your thermostat(s). In instances where you just have a boiler or furnace without the ability to cool you see a thermostat with just two wires, red and white. If you have a cooling system with your heating system you'll most commonly find the thermostats using 4 wires. If you add a smart thermostat you're going to need a fifth wire, the c-wire. C-wires help delivery more power to the thermostat to power the Wi-Fi functions. Adding this wire can be difficult as it require yo