It’s hard to match the Btu generation of heating oil.
When winter weather arrives in our part of the country, it does not mess around. Even when we aren’t facing blustery snow from a raging nor’easter or lake effect bands, we’re still contending with days on end of sub-freezing temperatures. Reliable, effective home heating is an absolute necessity.
For well over a century, homeowners in upstate New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont have used heating oil to stay toasty through the coldest days of winter. Over the years, Mirabito has been there to consistently deliver premium heating oil to our customers. Why has heating oil remained so popular in the Northeast? In this article, we’ll discuss just that.
How Much Heat Does Heating Oil Produce?
Heating oil is a fantastic generator of household warmth. The best way to measure heat generation is by Btu (British thermal unit). One Btu is the amount of heat needed to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.
A single gallon of heating oil can produce 138,500 Btu of heat energy. That’s the equivalent amount of heat produced by roughly 134 cubic feet of natural gas or 41 kilowatt hours of electricity. It’s an incredible amount of warmth!
How Does a Heating Oil System Keep You Warm?
Your furnace or boiler’s burner clicks on when the temperature drops in your home, and your thermostat signals the heating system to start. A fuel pump draws heating oil through a filter into your burner, where it’s turned into a fine spray, mixed with air and ignited in the combustion chamber.
In its liquid form, heating oil won’t ignite on its own. Indeed, if you were to drop a lit match into a bucket of liquid heating oil, it would go out like it was dropped in water.
Once the burner is on, the combustion chamber heats up. In furnaces, a heat exchanger absorbs this heat, and a blower fan distributes warm air through ducts into your rooms. In boilers, the hot combustion chamber heats water, which circulates as either hot water or steam through plumbing to radiators or baseboards. The process repeats until the thermostat reaches the desired temperature, while emissions are vented safely outdoors through a flue.
Today’s oil-fired heating systems are more efficient than ever. Homeowners today use an average of 500 fewer gallons of oil each year to heat their homes compared to 30 years ago.
How Has Heating Oil Changed Over the Years?
Heating oil is more eco-friendly than it has ever been. All heating oil today is ultra-low-sulfur, which means it contains 99% less sulfur than it used to. The introduction of ultra-low-sulfur heating oil has improved air quality and allowed for the development of more efficient heating systems.
We’re also seeing the widespread incorporation of biofuels into heating oil. Bioheat Fuel is a gallon-for-gallon replacement for petroleum made from recycled and organic feedstocks like used cooking grease, plant oils, woody biomass and even algae. Biofuel-blended heating oil can be used in your equipment without modifications and lowers carbon, mercury and particulate matter emissions. It’s also better for the long-term health of your heating equipment.
Come to Mirabito for Unparalleled Home Heating Oil Delivery Options.
There are a lot of compelling reasons that thousands of households have trusted Mirabito for nearly a century with their heating oil delivery. We offer premium-quality heating oil at fair, transparent prices. And with our complimentary automatic delivery option and various payment plans, you never need to check your tank levels, contact us for a fill-up or worry about running out. We handle the planning and scheduling for you.
For the most reliable heating oil delivery in upstate New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont, become a Mirabito customer today.