Busting five common heating oil myths

Heating oil has been in widespread use in U.S. homes since the 1930s, ever since the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company introduced the first oil-fired burners.

But despite that longevity, misconceptions still exist about heating oil – thanks largely to the fuel’s poor environmental performance up until the 1970s.

We’re here to set the record straight by busting some long-held myths about heating oil for your Hudson Valley home. Here are five of the most common ones:

• Myth 1: Heating oil is bad for the environment.

  Fact: Today’s Ultra Low Sulfur Heating Oil (ULSHO) – a fuel grade now required for all heating oil gallons sold in New York State – burns more than 95 percent cleaner than heating oil did back in the 1970s. In fact, ULSHO produces near-zero particulate emissions and reduces nitrous oxide and CO2 compared to yesterday’s heating oil –a big reason why fuel oil isn’t even regulated by the federal Clean Air Act.

• Myth 2: Heating oil is flammable and unsafe.

  Fact: Heating oil is nothing like natural gas or gasoline, both of which are highly flammable. Heating oil doesn’t ignite at room temperature; in fact, if you drop a lit match into a pool of heating oil, it will go out, just as if you had dropped it in water. In order to burn, heating oil must first be heated to a temperature of 140 degrees and then vaporized. Heating oil also burns clean, making it safe for the environment.

• Myth 3: Oil heat is inefficient.

  Fact: ULSHO drastically reduces sooting and scaling compared to regular heating oil, leaving more heat in your house and less up your chimney. It does even better against other energy sources, providing more BTUs per gallon than any other fuel.

• Myth 4: Heating with oil is expensive.

  Fact: Actually, crude oil (the primary contributor to heating oil prices) is cheaper now than it was in 1980; although the oil market does rise and fall, heating oil remains an economical source of home energy. Today’s clean-burning ULSHO fuels also saves you money by leaving fewer deposits on heat exchangers, which prolongs the life of your equipment and reduces out-of-pocket repairs.

• Myth 5: Heating Oil stores are running out.

  Fact: While the supplies of all fossil fuel are limited in theory, there is no end in sight – and new deposits are being discovered every day. Another common heating oil myth is that America gets most of its heating oil from the Middle East. In actual fact, more than one-third of the heating oil we use in the US is produced domestically; of the remaining supply, Canada produces more of our oil than all Middle Eastern countries combined.

To get the facts about today’s heating oil for your Dutchess, Columbia, Orange, Sullivan, Delaware, Greene, or Ulster County home, contact the heating oil pros at Economy Oil today!