Over 13 million homes and business across North America rely on oil-fired heat and hot water.

HERE'S WHY....

1. EFFICIENT - Heating and hot water system efficiency is a measure of the amount of usable heat extracted from the potential energy of the fuel. For example, if your heating system is evaluated at 85% efficiency, it means that 85 cents of every dollar spent for heat and hot water are consumed within the home. The balance is exhausted through your chimney or flue exhaust. It's the combination of high efficiency and minimal exhaust of emissions are desirable traits for a home heating fuel. Oil-fired equipment has always provided these features for both heat and hot water. There are many ways to compare heating system efficiency. The most widely accepted measure is the U.S. Department of Energy's Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE). Using the AFUE benchmark, Oilheat gets excellent ratings - Take a look:

Efficiencies of new oil equipment range from 83% to 94%.
The average gas unit sold has an AFUE in the low 80's,
while ratings on individual gas units vary from 78% to 95%. While the high end
efficiency of some natural gas systems may look attractive, they exhibit higher water
vapor in the exhaust than an Oilheat system- which can be corrosive to the heating
unit.
Air to air heat pumps between 51% and 62%;
Geothermal heat pumps 76% to 82% AFUE.
Electric resistance heat has between 27% and 31% AFUE; Electric heat is
inefficient because nearly 66% of the heat value of the fuel is lost in the generation
and transmission.

2. CLEAN AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY - Heating oil is non-toxic, contains no carcinogens, and is biodegradable. Competitor innuendos and exaggerated media reports that depict oil heating as an environmental hazard are unjustified. Residential oil tanks do not present a threat to human health or the environment. A properly maintained oil tank can last for decades. Oilheat has the least environmental impact of any type of space heating and hot water fuel, attributable to it's high efficiency and clean burning. Natural gas and propane are similarly benign, while electric, coal and wood heat are far more detrimental to air quality.

Modern Oilheat systems are among the cleanest of combustion devices. New oil burners release near zero levels of smoke and combustion discharge. Residential oil burners produce less than one-third of one percent (.003) of total particulate emissions in the U.S. each year. Emissions from residential gas burners are about the same as from equivalent size oil burners, according to government research agency studies. Neither fuel releases particulate matter of any consequence. While electric heat at the point of use has no emission at all, the power plant creating the electricity may be giving off significant emissions depending on how power is generated.

3. OIL HEAT IS SAFE - Oil, gas, and electric heat all have commendable safety records when the equipment is installed properly and maintained regularly. However, when heating units malfunction, safety hazards can occur. Should that situation arise, Oilheat offers important safety advantages: Heating oil is non-explosive. If a heating oil leak should occur, it is not an explosive hazard. When natural gas or propane leaks, an explosive mixture of air and fuel forms rapidly. Heating oil will not burn in a liquid state. If you were to place a lit match into a vial of heating oil, the match would be extinguished because heating oil in liquid form is well below it's flash point of 140 degrees F, the temperature at which it begins to vaporize in order to fire inside a burner. By contrast, natural gas and propane will burst into flames when mixed with air if a match is struck in their presence.

A Special Home Safety Message: The risk of exposure to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO) is substantially less with Oilheat than with natural gas, propane, or wood heat. Carbon monoxide cannot be detected by one's senses, but prolonged exposure to can cause injury and even death. Properly set and maintained oil and gas burners produce very low, safe levels of CO as a normal part of the combustion process. But should there be a malfunction, oil heat is the safer fuel. In the unlikely event an oil burner malfunctions due to air restriction, smoke occurs before appreciable amounts of CO develop. This serves as a warning signal. When gas burners malfunction, they produce potentially dangerous levels of CO first, then smoke. It is difficult to tell that a gasburner is creating CO simply by looking at it. A high CO reading is often due to vent blockage, flue pipe damage, heat exchanger cracks, and/or restricted air supply into the house. Homeowners should periodically have heaters and gas appliances inspected and tested for carbon monoxide levels and proper venting. All homes should have smoke and CO detectors.

4. ECONOMICALLY SMART -
The price of energy in the region where you live is the most dominant influence on total heating costs. For example: The installed cost of an electric heat system may look attractive, but when you calculate the annual operating cost of electric power in particular, you find the savings vanish.

For the past four years the cost of Oilheat has been consistently lower than comparable natural gas costs. In climate regions of the country where Oilheat is dominant, the cost to a homeowner for utility supplied natural gas in 1995 can be as much as 40% more than Oilheat! Energy analysts do not forsee that the price advantage for Oilheat will diminish any time soon. The best way to compare energy prices is to calculate the price per BTU, a unit of heating value, for each fuel. Take a look at the figures

Heating Oil contains 138,690 BTU's per gallon.
Natural Gas has 100,000 BTU's per therm. It takes 1.4 therms to equal the heat content of one gallon of heating oil.
Kerosene has 131,890 BTU's per gallon; 1.05 gallons equals the heat content of one gallon of heating oil.
Propane has 91,500 BTU's per gallon; 1.52 gallons equals the heat of one gallon of heating oil.
Electricity has 3,413 BTU's per kilowatt hour (kwh); 40.6 kwh equals the heat content of a gallon of heating oil. Energy prices can vary widely across the country.

Your Oilheat dealer can provide you with the information to accurately compare energy prices in your area.

Heating oil prices are 2.5 to 5.5 times lower than electricity. Converting from electric to Oilheat can substantially reduce energy costs. Electric water heaters are very inefficient (about 29% AFUE). The potential savings for converting an electric water heater to an oil-fired unit range from $101 to $467 or more a year depending on your electric utility's rates. There are many old gas heaters operating at less than 70% efficiency. In the majority of cases, converting to efficient Oilheat would provide a very good payback. Conversely, switching from Oilheat to gas does not offer an attractive payback. In most cases it can take longer to recover your investment than the life expectancy of the new gas heater. Data from the Consumer Energy Council of America Research Foundation showed that changing from oil to another fuel over the last twelve years did not make economic sense; the cost of conversion is highly unlikely to be recovered.

Source: oilheat.com