HEATING WITH OIL
You may have lived in an oil-heated home for years, or you may be having your first experience with oilheat. Either way, you’ll find the material in this guide helpful—and perhaps even a little surprising.
As an oilheat consumer, you should know that oil is a clean, efficient, cost-effective, safe and versatile fuel.
Knowing the facts about oil will help you make educated decisions, save money and keep your home as comfortable as possible.
Please look to the oilheat dealers in your area as a resource for information and help. It would be their pleasure to answer any questions you may have after reading this guide.
Fast facts about oilheat
❶ There are approximately 10 million oil-heated homes in the U.S.; about 350,000 oil-heated homes were built in the past decade alone.
❷ The efficiency levels of today’s oilheat systems can exceed 90% (see page 3).
❸ Clearburn Science has made oilheat 95% cleaner than 25 years ago (see page 4).
❹ The chances of an underground storage tank leak are much less than 1% and a modern tank has an even lower risk (see page 12).
❺ For every gallon of oil burned, a whopping 138,000 Btu’s are generated. The amount of heat your home receives depends on the efficiency of the appliance.
❻ Oil companies received a rating of 94% for friendly and fast service (see page 14).
Q: Is oilheat an efficient way to heat a home?
A: Yes. Oilheat has always provided efficient and affordable warmth and it’s gotten even better in recent years. Many oil-fired systems
now display the prestigious Energy Star label, which signifies that they are technologically advanced and clean burning. Some oilheat systems have efficiency ratings that exceed 90%.
Q: What’s behind this success?
A: “Clearburn Science” has produced dramatic improvements in oilheat technology, with advances such as the high static pressure flame-retention burner, solid-state microprocessor electronic controls and cleaner burning fuel.
Improved efficiencies in oilheat equipment have saved homeowners hundreds of dollars a year.
3
Q: Is heating oil a good value?
A: Yes. Heating oil prices, when adjusted for inflation, actually dropped 23% during the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, when all energy prices have changed, prices for other goods and services have risen much more than the price of heating oil (see chart).
| Price increases, 2000–2004 |
|---|
| heating eggs coffee homes oil 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 17% 39% 40% 41% |
Sources: oil - Energy Information Administration, U.S. Dept. of Energy; eggs - Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Commerce; coffee - International Coffee Organization; home prices - National Association of Realtors.
Heating oil, like other forms of energy, is a commodity traded on the open market, so you can expect ups and downs in its price. However, competition among thousands of local oilheat companies plays a role in ensuring value and service.
price
| Wholesale oil prices |
|---|
| history projection |
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy
Q: Are there adequate supplies of heating oil?
A: Yes. It’s been more than 30 years since there was a significant problem with energy supplies. Today, improvements in drilling technology have opened up reserves in more countries than ever before (see chart at right).
The United States also has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve with nearly 700 million barrels in place. It’s the world’s largest emergency oil stockpile. A few years ago, the U.S. also established a two-million-barrel heating oil reserve.
➧ Heating oil represents
Made in
only 3% of total petroleum
the USA
consumption in the U.S.
- Approximately 85% of the heating oil used in the
- U.S. is refined domestically.
- Studies show that there are as many as two trillion barrels of crude oil in the world still untapped, enough to last for nearly a century.
Q: What’s the easiest way to get a delivery?
A: The easiest way to get heating oil is through automatic delivery. The oil company normally counts “degree-days” to keep track of how cold the weather has been and
calculates an individual burn rate for each customer. This lets the company know just when a customer will need a delivery, long before most people would know it themselves.
Automatic delivery doesn’t mean more fuel is
burned. It provides peace of mind because you don’t have to think twice about how much fuel is in your tank.
About three-quarters of the oil used in the U.S. comes from outside the Persian Gulf. That’s due to three big North American producers: the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The heat produced by an oilheat system is distributed through a home in one of three ways: warm air (registers or vents), hot water (baseboard, radiators or radiant) or steam.
While the system in your home may look a bit different from those in the diagrams below, it operates on the same principles.
Whatever the system, any emissions are safely vented to the outside and never mix with the indoor air.
Q: What should I do about an old system?
A: An old oilheat system is no different than any other outdated heating system, regardless of the fuel used. Old systems can generate higher than necessary fuel bills, but they can easily be replaced with equipment that incorporates new oilheat technology.
The nonprofit Consumer Energy Council of America concluded that changing fuel sources does not make "economic sense" and a better investment would be to upgrade an older system to new equipment in order to improve efficiency.
Upgrading to a new oilheat system pays
Q: How do I know if my system should be replaced?
A: Oilheat systems typically last 30 years and longer. However, the older the system, the greater the gain in efficiency and cleanliness through upgrading. If your oilheat system is less than 25 years old, you are already benefiting from some of the technological advances of Clearburn Science.
Size Matters
Modern oilheat systems are smaller, cleaner and more efficient than ever.
Q: Besides a total replacement, are there lower-cost ways to improve an oilheat system’s efficiency?
A: Yes. A professional
tune-up can increase efficiency by up to 5%. Homeowners can also improve efficiency—by as much as 25% —if they replace an old burner with a modern, flame-retention burner rather than replacing the entire furnace or boiler. Purchasing a new burner is a modest investment with a rapid payback. It is estimated that flame-retention burners have saved homeowners billions of dollars in fuel costs and have conserved more than six billion gallons of oil.
Oilheat gives you all the hot water you need
Oilheat is a great way to heat water. It’s especially valued by growing families whose dishwashers, washing machines and showers always seem to be running. With the rapid “recovery” rates of oil-fired water heaters, it’s unlikely that you will run out of hot water—and you’ll save money too! Contact a local heating oil company to find out which water heating option is best for you and your family.
“I love the house, but what about the oil tank? ”
There are many misconceptions about oil storage tanks. Tanks can last for decades, and when the time comes for replacement, there are many new options that can benefit the homeowner.
- With an oil storage tank on your property, you always have supply on hand.
- With a tank, you pay for the fuel you are delivered—no estimates, no questions.
- According to a major national study, the chance of a leak from an underground heating oil tank is less than one-quarter of 1%.*
- There are no federal regulations requiring residential underground oil tanks to be removed if there is no leak.
- Advances in technology have resulted in the manufacture of tanks made from corrosion-resistant materials such as fiberglass and protected steel. Properly installed and maintained, today’s oil tanks can last indefinitely.
If you have more questions about storage tanks, call a local oil company. They will be able to address any of your concerns.
* Environ Corporation, “Analysis of the Potential Hazards Posed by No. 2 Fuel Oil Contained in Underground Storage Tanks.”
Customized storage solutions
Several options are available if you plan to renovate and want to save space.
- Today’s aboveground tanks are relatively small (275 gallons) and they can be customized for hard-to-fit places. For example, a vertical tank can be installed in small or unusual-shaped spaces in a basement or garage. Tanks can also be installed outside the home and hidden in a tank enclosure, like the one pictured here.
- You can also upgrade an old buried tank with a modern one. These new units are guaranteed to be corrosion resistant. If you decide on replacing an underground tank, contact a local oil company to find out about your best options because regulations regarding tank abandonment can be confusing.
An oil tank on your property
On-Site
puts you in control of your
Storage
comfort. The storage tank allows you to have an adequate supply of heating oil ready for immediate use with the arrival of cold weather. Many oil dealers offer the option of automatic delivery. By tracking the weather and each customer’s fuel consumption, they can refill the tank before the fuel level gets too low. You never need to think about it.
Oilheat companies pride themselves on providing peace of mind and responsive service to their customers. Consider the following:
- Oilheat users gave their oil companies an average rating of 94% for friendly and fast service in a recent national survey.
- Oilheat companies range from companies servicing several hundred accounts to those serving hundreds of thousands of customers,
so homeowners can choose a company that best suits their needs and personalities. Most oil dealers are locally owned and operated with deep roots in their communities.
Heating your home with oil is safe. Were you aware of the two facts below?
- Heating oil does not explode. If you dropped a lit match into a barrel of oil, the match would go out as if you dropped it in water. Oil must be turned into a fine-particle mist before it will ignite and burn, typically at a temperature of 130°–140°.
- Oilheat poses an extraordinarily low risk for carbon monoxide poisoning.
For more information:
Log on to oilheatamerica.com for more helpful hints and tips, or contact the oilheat association in your state.
Call the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA). NORA works in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy on research to improve heating oil and oilheat equipment. Its core mission also includes consumer education and technical training for those in the industry.
