People throughout the U.S. have been using heating oil to heat their homes since the 1920s, but it remains a misunderstood fuel source to this day.
In this week’s blog, we’ll bust some common myths surrounding one of the best ways to heat your home.
Fact: Burning oil has come a long way in the last 40 years – in fact, today’s heating oil burns 95 percent cleaner than it did back in the mid- to late 1970s. Emissions from heating oil are so clean they aren’t even regulated by the federal Clean Air Act.
Fact: You could drop a lit match in a pool of heating oil and it would go out exactly as if you had dropped it in water. Why? Heating oil must first be heated to 140 degrees and then vaporized in order to burn it (this is what happens in your high-tech oil burner). Natural gas or gasoline, on the other hand, are volatile even at room temperature.
Fact: Heating oil is one of the most efficient fuels around, providing more heat per gallon than any other fuel (about 137,000 BTUs vs. 95,000 BTU for propane). This greater heat output is important to keep in mind when comparing the efficiency of oil-fired equipment vs. its gas and electric counterparts, which may have greater efficiency ratings on paper but must burn more fuel to keep you warm.
Fact: Adjusting for inflation, home heating oil is cheaper now than it was in 1980. Although heating oil prices rise and fall, heating oil remains an affordable home energy choice.
To get the facts about heating oil and what it can do for your home or business, Contact Southville Petroleum today!