When Heating Fuel Runs Low Mid-Winter in Canada: Propane, Oil, and Wood Delivery Realities
General information only, not financial advice. Fuel prices, delivery fees, minimum orders, and availability vary by supplier, region, and week — sometimes sharply in a cold snap. No per-litre or per-cord price is quoted here, because none is representative. Confirm your own supplier's current terms when you call.
30 per cent. A quarter tank. Less than 20 per cent moisture. Those three numbers — one per fuel — are the difference between a routine delivery and an emergency. Propane households order at 30 per cent, oil households at a quarter tank, and wood households check the pile, not a gauge: is what remains actually dry enough to burn? Mid-winter is the worst month to learn any of them, because the same cold snap that empties the tank is the one slowing the truck.
Propane, oil, and wood compared
| Propane | Heating oil | Firewood | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reorder trigger | Order while the tank is at least 30 per cent full (s2); a supplier gauge guide sets the same 30 per cent order point (s10) | Order at around one-quarter full, giving a few days for delivery to arrive (s4) | No gauge — inventory is the pile itself, checked against how much winter is left |
| How full is "full" | A fresh fill reads about 80 per cent, because tanks are filled to about 80 per cent to leave room for expansion (s10) | Float gauge marks run Full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 — and the gauge is not very accurate when the tank is low, because the tank bottom is rounded (s4) | A cord is a stacked measure: 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, 8 feet long — about 128 cubic feet including air space (s7) |
| Run-out penalty | The system needs a leak check and pilot lights relit before service is restored, which takes longer than a simple fill (s10) | Sludge can be drawn into the feed lines and clog the system, and an HVAC technician must prime the system after a run-out (s5) | Replacement wood bought mid-winter is unlikely to be dry: very little drying takes place after October (s6) |
| Delivery system | Scheduled regular visits and payment programs exist to keep supply adequate (s1); order-by-request customers carry the monitoring themselves (s2) | Automatic delivery estimates use from past usage and a degree-day formula and schedules at about one-quarter full; will-call customers track and schedule themselves (s3) | Sold by legally defined measures — cord, stacked cubic metre — while terms like face cord are inexact (s7) |
One row deserves emphasis because it fools people every winter: a propane gauge at 40 per cent is not "a bit under half of a full tank" in the way intuition suggests. Full is about 80 per cent (s10), so 40 per cent is half of a fill — and 30 per cent, the order point, arrives sooner than the dial makes it feel.
Already low tonight: the triage order
- Read the level honestly, then call first and conserve second. The delivery clock is the long pole: the Canadian Propane Association's guidance is to order early precisely because snow and ice can block roads and obstruct delivery (s2), and will-call oil customers may wait longer in periods of high demand (s3). Every hour spent "seeing how it goes" is an hour added to the delivery queue.
- Give the supplier the facts that change the outcome. Current gauge reading, that the household is close to running out, and anything about access. Then do the household's half of the delivery: the CPA advises keeping the driveway and tank access cleared (s1), and marking the propane tank with a flag so snow removal does not damage it and the driver can find it immediately (s2).
- Cut the burn rate without cutting safety. The CPA's own conservation list is the safe menu: turn the thermostat down at home and lower again when sleeping or away, reduce hot water use, and reduce drafts with caulking and weather-stripping (s2). Concentrate the household into fewer rooms where the home's layout allows it, rather than heating the whole house to full comfort on a shrinking tank.
- Protect the plumbing while the house cools. A house drifting down in temperature puts exposed pipes at risk first. Keep some heat in the rooms and cabinets that carry water lines, and know where the main water shut-off is before it is needed — a burst pipe converts a fuel problem into a renovation.
- Use backup heat only inside its safety rules. Carbon monoxide cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted — only a CO alarm detects it (s8). Never run a fuel-burning generator indoors or in a garage or shed, and keep it at least 6 metres (20 feet) from any building (s8). Never use a propane, kerosene, or oil space heater in an enclosed area unless it is specifically designed for indoor use (s8). If a CO alarm sounds: leave for fresh air, do not hunt for the source, call 9-1-1 from outside, and return only after a professional has fixed the problem (s8).
What success looks like: the order is placed with a confirmed delivery window, access to the tank or woodpile is cleared, the thermostat and hot-water settings are lowered to the conservation settings above, and everyone in the house knows which rooms are being kept warm and where the water shut-off is.
What emergency delivery really involves
Terms are set supplier by supplier, and the honest way to show that is with one supplier's published terms rather than an invented "typical" fee. Midnight Petroleum, a Northwest Territories supplier, publishes a $300 minimum for call-in deliveries, next-day delivery for call-in requests, and a $150 fee for same-day call-ins and after-hours emergency calls on top of the delivery (s9). Households elsewhere will see different minimums and different fees — some lower, some structured differently — but the shape is general: the emergency version of the same fuel costs more than the scheduled version, and minimum-delivery rules can force a larger purchase than the tank-side budget planned.
The structural fix is visible in the oil market: one Ontario supplier offers automatic delivery free precisely because scheduled deliveries let it avoid sending crews out to deal with emergency run-outs (s3). Propane providers make the same offer in their own form — regular scheduled visits and payment programs arranged with the provider (s1), plus tank monitoring for households that would rather not watch a gauge (s2). The decision is rarely "automatic or nothing"; it is "pay attention myself, on a schedule, or hand the watching to the supplier."
The woodpile version of the same problem
Wood has no gauge, no automatic delivery, and no emergency truck that fixes a bad pile — so its checks happen at purchase, not at the stove. Two of them matter. First, moisture: firewood burns properly below 20 per cent moisture, softwood takes at least four to six months to air-dry to that level, and almost no drying happens after October (s6). A mid-winter emergency load that was not seasoned the previous summer will sizzle, smoke, and lay creosote in the chimney — and creosote in quantity is the fuel for a chimney fire (s6). Properly seasoned wood is also worth money in itself: it can cut consumption by up to 25 per cent for the same heat (s6).
Second, measure. A cord, a cubic foot, and a stacked cubic metre are legally defined measures; a "face cord" is an inexact term for a 4-by-8-foot stack of about any depth — at 16-inch pieces, roughly a third of a cord (s7). The only way to know what a delivery actually contained is to stack it and measure it (s7). Winter storage then protects the purchase: stack in rows off the ground on poles or pallets, leave about 6 inches between rows for air, cover the top against rain and snow, and leave the sides open to the wind (s6).
Set the trigger that prevents a repeat
Propane: order at 30 per cent without negotiating with the number (s2) (s10), fill early before the cold season as the CPA advises (s1), and have the system inspected by a qualified technician before each heating season (s1). A smell of propane at any point changes the procedure entirely: flames out, everyone out, the tank's main valve off if it is safe to do so, a call to the retailer or fire services, and no use of the system until a qualified inspector has checked it (s1).
Oil: order at a quarter tank (s4), check the gauge occasionally even on automatic delivery (s4), and remember the gauge reads optimistically low-tank levels poorly (s4). The run-out penalty — sludge in the lines and a technician's prime (s5) — costs more than the attention the gauge asks for.
Wood: buy against the legally defined stacked measure, verify by stacking and measuring on delivery (s7), and hold the 20 per cent moisture line (s6) even when the only wood available quickly is greener. The cheapest cord of the winter is the seasoned one bought before it was needed; the most expensive heat of the winter is the emergency version of any of the three fuels.
— Penny Hughes, Money Writer — Saving Desk