Heating Oil is one of the most popular methods to heat your home in the northeast. It is also incredibly safe! But just how safe is it exactly? I’ll be covering that below, as well as discussing why it’s one of the best sources on the market!
How Does Heating Oil Work?
Heating Oil is often sometimes referred to as Furnace Oil or Fuel Oil. You will typically store heating oil in a tank specifically for it. These tanks vary in size vastly, but are most commonly in the sizes of 275 and 330 gallon tanks. There are larger sizes as well that store it either above ground or underground. However, I highly recommend that you remove underground tanks as they can be a biohazard. But, most above ground tanks are located in the garage, basement or outside the home.
You’ll also need to get deliveries regularly to ensure that the tank has oil. You should also get a heating oil delivery every month or so during the winter, and at least once during the summer to ensure you’ll have heating oil for the next heating oil season. But, if you haven’t gotten a delivery recently it’s important to get one as soon as you possibly can.
For Heating Oil to be converted into heat, it’s drawn from the tank and moved into the burner. This is usually done naturally by gravity as the heating oil is drawn into the furnace or burner. Then, once the oil has been moved into the boiler/burner it’ll go through the following process:
- Heating Oil is moved from the oil tank and into the burner. It goes through a filter before reaching the burner that will clean out any debris or contaminants floating around in the oil itself.
- The burner will then preheat which will then cause the fan to start up, which will mix air into the heating oil process and help the fuel start to burn.
- The heating oil will then go through atomization. This is the process of converting heating oil into gas for it ignite and become heat for your home.
- Finally, the systems sensor will confirm that the oil is being turning into gas and igniting. The system will then burn the now atomized heating oil until the thermostat tells it to stop.
Is Heating Oil Safe?
The good thing to know about heating oil is that it you MUST atomize it at 140 degrees Fahrenheit before it becomes flammable. This means that in it’s liquid state, heating oil is incredibly safe! You can even drop a lit match into a bucket of heating oil and it will simply go out! However, I don’t recommend doing this at home because heating oil tends to stink!
The nice thing about heating oil as well is that it doesn’t produce any fumes. So you don’t have to worry about that! However, if you smell heating oil in your home it’s possible that you have a leak in the tank of some kind. It’s best to get that inspected as soon as you can!
Where can you Purchase Heating Oil?
You can purchase heating oil from a multitude of different locations. Typically, you can buy from a local oil dealer near you if there’s a particular dealer that you like using. But, you can also order through our FuelSnap website! This website will allow you to place orders from local heating oil dealers in your area!
Our platform will allow you to look at all the dealers in your area that are on our program. This will ensure that you can get the lowest price available to you! Simply just go to our website and type in your zip code, or place the order through the Smart Oil Gauge’s app!
How Hot is Heating Oil?
Heating Oil burns, VERY hot. But, because it’s so hot you’ll tend to get more heat per gallon when comparing it to propane. Out of a single gallon of heating oil, you’ll get 138,000 BTUs (British Thermal Unit). When comparing heating oil to say propane for example, it burns much hotter. Heating oil generally burns much hotter than propane as it’s 85% more efficient. When comparing to heating oil, propane will only produce about 91,500 BTUs.
Should You Use Heating Oil?
Heating Oil is both very efficient and very safe. If you properly store it in your basement, garage or even outdoors, you’ll have easy access to it and you’ll be able to get up to at least 30 years of usage! It’s also very reliable and provides ample heat for your home!
But, if your tank is underground then I highly recommend replacing it with an above ground tank. You won’t have to worry about how much oil is in the tank or the old tank leaking into the surrounding soil! You’ll be able to eliminate any future issues caused by it if the tank were to leak or there were to be an issue with your system.
Happy Heating,
Hunter
