4 Common Questions About Heating Oil
Have you recently moved into a house that uses heating oil? Is this your first time using oil for heating and hot water?
There are many myths and misconceptions about heating oil, where it comes from, and how it’s used. As the premiere heating oil delivery company in southern New Jersey, we can help you become an expert in the subject!
Here are answers to four common heating oil questions.
1. What is heating oil, and how is made?
Heating oil is a distillate of crude oil used in homes and businesses for heating spaces and water. The process of distilling it requires crude to be heated to over 1,000°F! You might sometimes hear heating oil referred to as no. 2 fuel oil.
2. How does a boiler or furnace burn heating oil?
Unlike natural gas or propane, heating oil does not enter your heating equipment’s burner as a gas. Because it is a liquid — and a dense one, too — the oil requires more than a spark to ignite. Your heating system’s pump draws oil through a filter into the burner. Here, it becomes a fine spray, mixes with air, and is heated to over 140°F. At that point, it will ignite.
This process can give you extra peace of mind because it illustrates how safe liquid heating oil is. It won’t combust in liquid form, even if you were to drop a lit match in a bucket full of it!
3. How is heating oil different from other heating fuels?
As noted above, heating oil is a liquid, delivered by truck and stored in a home storage tank. You don’t need to rely on a utility, as you would with natural gas.
Heating oil is also one of the most effective heating fuels around. Let’s compare oil’s heat output to natural gas as measured in British thermal units (Btu’s):
- Heating oil produces 138,690 Btu’s per gallon.
- Natural gas produces 1,030 Btu’s per cubic foot.
Only one gallon of oil produces the same heat as 135 cubic feet of natural gas. If you’re looking for an efficient way to heat your home, heating oil is the way to go.
4. How has heating oil changed in recent years?
Your notion of heating oil might still be of the black smoke and soot that your grandparents’ oil furnace coughed up. But today’s heating oil is lightyears more advanced.
To begin, pretty much all heating oil is ultra-low sulfur, which is better for the planet and the air we breathe. The heating oil that Woodruff Energy delivers is also much easier on your oil tank and heating equipment. It contains UltraGuard™, a treatment that stabilizes your fuel and prevents corrosion in your system.
As you can see, heating oil is an effective, efficient fuel for your home. And if you choose Woodruff Energy as your heating oil partner, you can enjoy the most dependable fuel delivery in the region. We offer no-fee Automatic Delivery, where we track your heating oil usage and schedule deliveries for you.
To enjoy no-stress Automatic Delivery, become a Woodruff customer today.
