Heating Oil
Heating Oil is a petroleum distillate used for home and business heating in areas where there is not a lot of access to natural gas or propane gas. Heating oil is use is over 80% in the northeast US states, and zero in the Rocky Mountain States. Environmental concerns over spillage is a major reason to keep oil away from water sources.
Oil has been used for centuries, as far back as 3000BC, when first extracted from rock by the Mesopotamians. In 4th Century China, oil was used for lamps and probably also for heating. Heating oil for homes was widely used starting in the 1920’s with the introduction of oil burners. Prior to this, homes used coal for heat, which required storage bins, and created messy soot. Oil heat was warmer and created less drafts than coal.
Heating oil is safe enough to store in a tank inside your home, carries more BTU content per gallon than propane, and is typically a very warm heat as opposed to gas. It requires a steel tank, best placed inside a basement, but can also be placed outside or buried. Inside it is not exposed to moisture or extreme temperatures and can be monitored more easily for leaks. Oil can be stored for years, and needs annual maintenance.
Oil must be delivered by truck. About 46% of the cost of heating oil goes to marketing, while actual oil costs run about 42%, and refining accounts for about 12%. Fuel oil and diesel are almost identical, but diesel has road taxes to keep costs up, while fuel oil has delivery costs added, so they end up very similarly priced.
Some homes can go an entire winter on a single 275 gallon tank, others require upwards of 1000 gallons depending on size and insulation values. Some homeowners try to take advantage of lower summer prices by filling their tanks then, but most homes need more than a tank, or 4 or 5 tanks to get through an average winter. Final costs on heating oil depend on world economic conditions, supply and demand, and weather.
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Tagged With diesel, fuel oil, heating oil, oil, oil burners, oil delivery, oil tanks
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