More than 8 million US households, including homeowners throughout Rhode Island, choose to heat their home with heating oil, and for some pretty good reasons – especially when compared with natural gas.
Here are three key heating oil advantages to think about when you’re choosing the best fuel source for your home:
You’ll be safer – Heating oil is among the safest of major home energy sources because it does not burn in a liquid state and is non-explosive. In fact, if you dropped a lighted match in a barrel of heating oil (don’t try it!), it would go out just as if you had dropped it in water. Natural gas is much more volatile in normal household conditions. We’ll put it this way: You’ll never have to evacuate your home if you use heating oil!
You’ll be doing the planet a favor – Today’s Ultra Low Sulfur Heating Oil (ULSHO) – the only heating oil you can get in Rhode Island produces near-zero emissions; when mixed with Biofuels, they create an even cleaner heating oil option. With a methane content of 95 percent, natural gas system emissions account for 18 percent of total global methane emissions, a powerful contributor to global warming and climate change.
Want to know another way choosing heating oil helps the environment? By keeping junk out of the landfill: The average life expectancy of an oil heat furnace is 30 or more years if properly maintained. The average life expectancy of a natural gas furnace? About 11-14 years.
You’ll save money in the long run – When comparing heating oil to natural gas, the latter may have some advantages in terms of BTU per dollar costs (depending on the cost of each fuel), but heating oil equipment comes out ahead in the total cost of ownership race when you consider factors like the life expectancy of the equipment, a lesser need for maintenance, and conversion costs for equipment ($10,000 or more!). The takeaway here: Don’t believe the natural gas hype!
You’ll get more a faster, more reliable supply of hot water – The hot water recovery rate of an oil-fueled water heater is twice as fast as a natural gas water heater and three times as fast as an electric water heater. That way if your teenager uses all the hot water for her shower, you won’t have to wait as long for your own.
The bottom line: Today’s heating oil is hard to beat in a cold climate like we have here in Rhode Island. To start benefiting from the advantages of heating oil for your new home build, or to switch to heating oil in your Rhode Island home, contact Vaughn Oil for a FREE, no obligation estimate today.
*EIA New England average residential prices Q1 2019
