Why Should I Buy A Home That Uses Heating Oil?

When you buy a new (or new for you) home, there are a lot of decisions to make, including where to buy, how much to spend, and dozens of others. But one consideration you probably haven’t thought much about is one that could have a big impact on your quality of life for years to come: how the home is heated.

A home’s heating system will affect your family’s comfort for two-thirds of the year here in New England, and could have a big impact on your wallet, too.

Here in northern and central Rhode Island, we have many sources of home energy available to us, including natural gas, propane, and electricity. But one option offers stands above the rest when you consider the whole package: heating oil.

8 Heating Oil Advantages

Why choose a home with a furnace or boiler powered by heating oil? Consider these eight reasons.

• BTU output – Nothing beats good old-fashioned oil when it comes to bringing the heat: in fact, heating oil burns 300 degrees hotter than natural gas, which means your home will heat faster and you’ll need to burn less fuel to stay comfortable.
• Cost – Today’s heating oil prices are about the same as they were in the mid-1970s, when adjusted for inflation. That makes heating oil quite a bargain.
• Efficiency – Today’s heating oil-fired heating equipment boasts efficiency percentage ratings that reach well into the 90s; combine that efficiency with the high burning temperature of heating oil (see below) and it’s clear that heating oil delivers more bang for your heating buck than other options.
• Safety – Unlike natural gas or propane, heating oil will never explode. In fact, heating oil does not even burn in a liquid state – it must be vaporized under precise conditions in order for combustion to occur.
• Environmental performance – Today’s ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) burns 95 percent cleaner than heating oil did 50 years ago. Clean burning fuel also means longer lasting equipment (see below), which means less bulk in the landfill.
• Longer lasting equipment – With proper maintenance, today’s oil-fired furnaces and boilers can last 30 years or more – significantly longer (sometimes twice as long) as systems powered by natural gas or propane. Today’s double-walled heating oil storage tanks last longer than propane tanks, too.
• Availability – During the winter, high demand for fuel can strain supply for natural gas – but that will rarely happen with heating oil.

The bottom line: While shopping for your new Rhode Island home, keep one eye on your heating system! Once you sign on the dotted line, choose Discount Oil Brokers for the lowest-priced quality heating oil deliveries in northern and central RI.