Heating Oil is among the most popular sources of heating in the Northeast. It’s also known to be one of the safest. But how safe is heating oil? Well there are quite a few benefits to heating oil that makes it the best source for heating on the market. In today’s article, we will be discussing the benefits of heating oil and what makes it as popular as it is.
How does Heating Oil Work?
While sometimes referred to as Fuel Oil, Heating Oil is contained in an oil tank in your home that is directly connected to your heating system. Your heating oil tank is usually always located in your basement or garage. However, you will sometimes even have it outside! Very rarely nowadays, you tank may be located underground. To be able to get occasional oil deliveries, a heating oil truck must deliver oil every so often.
If you’re running low and you haven’t gotten a fill recently, it is imperative that you get a delivery as soon as possible. Running out of oil can not only damage your tank, but in the cold winter months will cause your pipes to freeze!
Heating Oil is drawn from the the tank and gets pumped into your burner. Sometimes this process is naturally done through gravity to the burner itself. Although that isn’t very common. Once oil has reached your burner, it goes through the following process:
- Heating Oil is first drawn into the oil filter from the tank. The filter will then filter out any debris or contaminants that could be floating around in the oil.
- The burner itself will then begin to preheat itself. It will activate a fan that will mix air into it and help to start burning the fuel.
- The heating oil then goes through a process of atomization (converting the oil into a mist), where it then heats up and ignites into a flame
- A sensor within the system then confirms that the ignition of the oil has occurred. The system then burns the heating oil until the thermostat tells the unit to stop.
Is it Safe?
It is a requirement for heating oil to become atomized and heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit before you ignite it. Heating oil itself is extremely safe! Additionally, while in liquid form it is non flammable! Which means if you where to drop a match into a bucket of heating oil, it would simply go out. However, we do not recommend doing this at home because heating oil tends to smell!
Unlike gas heating, you do not have to fear fumes entering your home when heating oil is heating the home. If your home smells like heating oil then it could be possible that you might have a leak of some kind. To ensure that you don’t have a leak, be sure to check out our article on tank inspections. We go over the process a bit more in depth there.
Where can I Buy Heating Oil?
There are plenty of different places where you can buy heating oil. If you have a reoccurring plan with your oil dealer then you will likely be purchasing through them. However, you can also order oil on our FuelSnap website and through the Smart Oil Gauge App!
We offer the cheapest prices on heating oil in local areas that are from dealers in your local area! Simply just go to the website and type in your zip code and you will be able to start looking at pricings from your local dealers.
How Hot is Heating Oil?
Heating Oil burns HOT. However, because it burns so hot, you will actually get more heat per gallon when comparing it to other forms of heating. Out of a single gallon of heating oil, you will get an average of 138,500 BTUs. BTU means British Thermal Unit and it is used to keep track of measurements on heating. When comparing Heating Oil to propane for example, heating oil is generally 85% more efficient. Propane will only produce 91,500 BTUs. If you’d like to look at this topic in more depth, we cover all of the nitty gritty details of Heating Oil vs Propane in this article.
Should I Use Heating Oil?
Heating Oil is both extremely safe and efficient. If you have it properly stored in an oil tank in either your basement, garage or outdoors, you will often see up to thirty years of usage! You will need to order oil every so often, but it is incredibly reliable when it comes to heating your home!
If you have an underground heating oil tank, we recommend replacing it with an above ground. This is simply just because the tank will run into less long term issues. An above ground tank is also easier to manage. If you need some advice on replacing your oil tank, check out this article.
Happy Heating,
Hunter
