During warm spring days and mild summer nights, people think more about cooling their homes than heating them. But when fall weather turns cold and days pass toward winter, thoughts change to throwing on an extra clothing layer, turning up the thermostat and letting the furnace take over.

An average of 7% of homes use oil heating to heat their homes and provide hot water for showers and washing. This 7% utilizes around 7 billion gallons of fuel every single year.

If you’re a homeowner with oil heat, you’ll want to get comfortable with your system and understand how your oil heating system works. As will all major home systems, yearly maintenance and knowledge can potentially save you from major repairs and fixes.

Outside of the Northeastern U.S., few people realize home heating oil is now a clean-burning, eco-friendly source of thermal energy. If you live in one of the states that have already mandated the switch to ultra-low sulfur heating oil, also known as ULSHO, however, you’ve probably already heard about the merits of this new and improved version of an old petroleum product.

In our busy daily lives, we can often let household maintenance go by the wayside. It could be dishes, laundry or a good floor cleaning. For homeowners with an oil-based heater, getting heating oil for your furnace is also often on that list. Whether you simply forget to refill it or try to use every last drop of oil before your next delivery, letting your oil furnace run low can be risky, both to your furnace and to the quality of your home’s heat. If your furnace runs low, you may be risking it running dry.

The Benefits of Using Oil Heat in Your Home

When purchasing a new home or making renovations to your current one, you already have so many factors to consider. Between wall coverings and flooring options, one of the biggest considerations on your plate should be your home’s heating system.

• The Benefits of Oil Heat
• Where to Buy Heating Oil

If you’re like most people living in cold-weather climates, once the temperature starts to drop, you don’t care how your home heating system works. You just care that it works and works well. Come late November, the last thing you want is for your oil-tank heating system to break down or suffer from reduced efficiency, just as temperatures are starting to drop and heating oil prices are adjusting to their seasonal highs. That’s why it’s essential to maintain both the system and the heating oil it burns. Using a home heating oil treatment as a preventative measure can help ensure that your heating system produces ample heat and maintains its efficiency throughout the winter.

Reducing energy usage is one of the many things we think of when trying to cut expenses in our lives. However, acting on it can feel like a complex task — especially if you live in an older house or apartment complex. Simply turning off the lights and AC when you leave for work doesn’t always cut it.

Are you moving into a home that has an oil heating system? Are you unfamiliar with how an oil furnace actually works and what you need to do to maintain it? The following information will give you a basic understanding of your heating oil-based system, so you can maximize its efficiency and keep it in peak operating condition throughout the long, cold winter.

Your home HVAC system works hard to keep the flow of fresh air moving. When dust and grime build up in your ducts, it affects your system’s ability to keep fresh air moving in an effective, efficient manner. If you think of your HVAC ducting as a highway that runs through the home, dirty ducts are like slow-moving traffic that keeps you from where you need to be.

Sometimes, the effects of dirty air ducts can be subtle. Here’s what you should watch for and why it’s important to call in a duct cleaning specialist for regular service.

Is the reset button on your oil burner constantly tripping? Do you know what to do if it does? Resetting your oil burner is one of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of furnace maintenance in homes that rely on fuel oil. In this article, we’ll attempt to dispel some of the more common myths by providing practical advice that will keep your HVAC system working its best for years to come.