Heating Oil is a very popular way to heat your home. Especially here in the Northeast United States! But why is it as popular as it is? There are a lot of factors that make it the prime choice. For example, it’s very safe to use, easy to obtain, and very efficient. But in this article, I’m going to go through everything you need to know about why that is. I’ll be discussing what makes it so popular in today’s market!
Comparing Heating Oil and Furnaces
In the Northeastern United States, you can find some of the nation’s oldest homes. Some of these homes even date back to the 1800s! But in the 1900s a lot of homes were heated with coal furnaces. This means that you’ll often find that most of these older homes have coal furnaces installed in them. These are usually located in the basement of your home and similar to heating oil, coal used to be delivered! You would have to order a shipment of coal that would be delivered to your home. The coal would come and would then be shoveled into your furnace to keep the house warm. However, over time these coal based furnaces became phased out and replaced with wood-burning stoves which were more efficient.
When comparing heating oil to coal and wood, it’s often the better option. It produces more heat than both of them and is also much easier to maintain and operate. Heating oil is also easier to store compared to coal and wood. Back then, storing coal and wood was a hassle and not as convenient as it can be now. But, heating oil is very easy to store! Once you have a tank in your home, you can store the oil in your tank and the system will draw it from your tank to the burner when you need it!
Transitioning from Coal to Heating Oil
As heating oil got more popular in the middle of the 1900s, coal trucks slowly became both heating oil and coal trucks. Before they eventually became just heating oil trucks. This caused in an increase in popularity, thus phasing out coal from homes. Slowly but surely heating oil became the new normal. Heating Oil was just able to produce more heat per gallon compared to coal and wood ever were.
What are the Benefits of Heating Oil?
There are many benefits to using heating oil that other ways to heat your home might not necessarily have. Electric Heat and kerosene are both expensive, and while natural gas is convenient, it’s not necessarily easy to come by. But here are just a few of the benefits:
It’s Very Safe to Use: Heating Oil is one of the safest ways to heat your home. In it’s liquid state, it is non flammable and it has to go through the process of atomization for it to become ignitable. That means that it’s impossible for it to start a fire or explosion in the tank itself. If you were to drop a lit match into a bucket of heating oil, the oil would douse the flame. Just don’t try this at home because heating oil has a very pungent odor! Most importantly, it must be heated up to 140 degrees and atomized for it to become flammable.
Great Efficiency: One gallon of heating oil can produce a total of 138,000 BTUs. Now when you compare this to propane, which only produces 91,500 BTUs per gallon. So propane actually produces LESS heat per gallon. But while they are efficient, they can’t use 100% off all those BTUs. So heating oil will only produce 85% effective BTUs. Which equates to 117,725 usable BTUs. Propane will only be able to produce 86,925 usable BTUs per gallon.
Freedom to Buy: The nice thing about heating oil is that it’s not restrictive. You own your tank, unlike with propane, where you rent the tank. You can order from whoever and whenever you want. So you’re not reliant on one dealer to come out and deliver! So if you want to top off your tank, you’re able to do so! This will save you so much money in the long run, because you’re able to shop around and look for the lowest prices possible.
Adding Diesel When Running Out: Unlike propane, if you’re at risk of run out, you can go to your local gas station and pick up a couple of gallons of diesel.. While you should only do this in an emergency, heating oil and diesel are similar enough that you can do this if you’re in a tight situation. Five gallons can keep you warm for a few days or overnight, depending on the time of year!
Can Monitor Easily
Another great feature about heating oil is how easy it is to monitor! You can use a float gauge or a Smart Oil Gauge, to be able to track your level and usage on your tank! When it comes to the float gauge, you’ll have to go down to the tank every so often to check your level. However, with the Smart Oil Gauge, you can do all that with the press of a button and the touch of your finger!
With the growing popularity of the Smart Oil Gauge, you won’t have to worry about running out or how many gallons you’re burning daily. The Smart Oil Gauge will have all that information for you available on the app! You can find all your data in one convenient place on the app! This will make it easier to understand when you need to order oil and how much you’re consistently burning.
Heating Oil Is the Way to Go!
When it comes down to it, heating oil is the best way to heat your home! Especially in the northeast, this is the easiest and safest way to heat. With it’s high combustion temperature and it’s efficiency producing heat, you’ll have no problem heating your home!
When using heating oil to heat your home, then that means that you’ll have alot of options when it comes to heating your home and where to order from. Plus, you have the freedom to order from whoever and wherever you like! It’s helpful and convenient which will make your heating process much easier and streamlined for your home!
Happy Heating,
Hunter
