Oil Heating in Homes: What You Need to Know
Heating your home with oil is both a safe and fairly cost-effective way to stave off winter’s chill, even for those living in extremely remote areas.
Written by Andrew Biro
Reviewed by Melanie Reiff
Oil heating uses a five-part system consisting of an oil tank, filter, fuel pump, combustion chamber, and thermostat to heat your home. When the oil burns, the heat is sent to a circulator or heat exchanger from where it is then distributed throughout the home—at no point does the oil leave the combustion chamber.
Once the preferred method of heating homes throughout the country, the use of oil heating has started to decline as more and more households switch to natural gas or electric heating. That doesn’t mean, however, that oil heating is any better or worse—it does have its drawbacks, sure, but there are many benefits as well, especially when it comes to safety and emissions.
So if you’re thinking about switching to oil heating, are buying a house with oil heating, or just want to know more about it, you’ve come to the right place.
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What is oil heating?
At its core, oil heating is more or less what it sounds like—a heating system that uses burning oil to warm your home during the cold winter months. Most oil heating systems consist of five main parts: a thermostat, oil tank, fuel pump, filter, and combustion chamber.
Oil does not, however, actually leave the combustion chamber once it enters—all of the heat produced by the burning oil is transferred to cool air or water, which is then warmed and dispersed throughout your home to heat it.
Keep reading for a more detailed explanation of how oil heating actually works.
How does oil heating work?
When your thermostat tells the heating system to warm up the house, oil is pumped from the tank into the main combustion chamber through a series of pipes. As it enters the chamber, the oil is put under an extreme amount of pressure and then lit on fire by way of a pilot light or electronic ignition.
As the oil burns, it produces heat—this heat then travels to either a heat exchanger or into a circulator where it comes into contact with water or air (depending on the type of system you own), which it then warms.
If your oil-heating system uses water, that means you have a boiler, whereas a system that uses heated air means you have a furnace—the differences of which have been outlined below:
- Boiler: a boiler heats your home by circulating hot water—warmed by the burning oil—through pipes that lead to radiators, baseboard heaters, or heating coils beneath your floorboards; these heating units then help disperse the heat throughout your home
- Furnace: a furnace heats your home by using a fan to pull cool air into a heat exchanger, which is where the air is heated by the burning oil—once heated, the air travels through ductwork and out of registers and vents to heat your home
Pros and cons of oil heating in homes
If you’re in the process of house-hunting or are considering switching to a different heating system, you may have some questions as to the advantages and disadvantages of oil heating in homes.
Pros
Oil-based heating systems have many benefits, including:
- Long lifespans: unlike other heating systems, boilers and furnaces that use oil to heat your home have very long lifespans—as long as you take good care of them and keep to a regular maintenance schedule, a boiler or furnace can easily last 15 - 20 years before needing to be replaced
- Remote availability: another advantage of heating your home with oil is that it is an option available even to those who live in very remote places, places where natural gas lines do not reach—as long as you have space for a tank and the tank can be accessed by a delivery driver, oil heating is something to consider
- Clean-burning: nowadays, most oil used in home-heating oil systems is clean burning—in fact, most states actually require that any oil used for heating be ultra-low sulfur oil
- Low risk of fire: a common misconception is that heating your home with oil puts you at higher risk of fire, but this is not true—oil is only able to ignite in your boiler or furnace’s combustion chamber at an extremely high heat (500℉ or more) and under extreme pressure
Cons
Of course, heating your home with oil has its drawbacks as well, namely:
- Tanks need to be refilled: one of the biggest disadvantages of heating your home with oil is that you can run out of oil, in which case you’ll be left without heat until the tank is refilled. Fortunately, there are companies who can monitor your oil level and will automatically deliver to your home once your oil starts to get low
- Oil prices fluctuate: if you drive a car, you already know that oil prices fluctuate seemingly at random, and that applies to the oil used in home heating as well—you may start the year off paying $2.90 a gallon and end the year paying $3.30 a gallon
- Tanks can be large and unsightly: generally speaking, oil tanks are large and must be placed someplace where they can be accessed by a delivery driver—but if your property is on the smaller side, you might not have much of a choice as to where that tank goes, something that may impact the visual appeal of your property
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Is oil heating a fire hazard?
Contrary to popular belief, heating your home with oil does not put you at a significantly increased risk of fire damage, as the oil only burns when the system is turned on and burning oil never leaves the combustion chamber. There is also very little chance of the oil accidentally catching fire, as it must be put under extreme pressure and be heated to temperatures of at least 500℉ before it can combust.
What are the benefits of heating your home with oil?
One of the biggest benefits of heating your home with oil is that it is an option available to just about anyone, no matter how remote—the only requirement is being able to house an oil tank that can be accessed by a delivery driver. Studies have also shown that heating with oil is actually more efficient than electricity or natural gas, allowing you to save money on energy bills.
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