Five Facts About Today’s Heating Oil: Busting Common Myths

Date: August 16, 2021

Americans have been using heating oil to heat their homes since the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company introduced the first oil-fired burners for home use in the early 1930s – yet misconceptions continue to color our perception of the fuel as a home heating source.

We’re here to set the record straight with some cold, hard facts about the heating oil sitting in the tank in your basement.

Heating Oil Myths

Here are five common myths about heating oil – and the facts that refute them:

• Myth 1: Burning oil for heat damages the environment.
  Fact: Today’s Ultra Low Sulfur Heating Oil (ULSHO)* – a grade now required in Massachusetts – burns more than 95 percent cleaner than it did back in the 1970s. In fact, ULSHO produces near-zero particulate emissions and reduces nitrous oxide and CO2 compared to yesterday’s heating oil – a big reason why heating oil isn’t even regulated by the federal Clean Air Act.
• Myth 2: Oil heat is dangerous.
  Fact: If you dropped a lit match into a pool of heating oil, it would do exactly the same thing as if you had dropped it in water. That’s because heating oil must first be heated to 140 degrees and then vaporized in order to burn it – unlike natural gas or gasoline, which can be volatile even at room temperature.
• Myth 3: Oil heat is an inefficient.
  Fact: ULSHO drastically reduces sooting and scaling compared to regular heating oil, leaving more heat in your house and less up your chimney. It does even better against other energy sources, providing more heat per gallon than any other fuel.
• Myth 4: Heating with oil is costly.
  Fact: Actually, home heating oil is cheaper now than it was in 1980; although the oil market does rise and fall, heating oil remains an economical source of home energy. Today’s clean-burning ULSHO oil also saves you money by leaving fewer deposits on heat exchangers, which prolongs the life of your equipment and reduces out-of-pocket repairs.
• Myth 5: Most home heating oil comes from the Middle East.
  Fact: More than one-third of the heating oil we use in the US is produced domestically; of the remaining supply, Canada produces more of our oil than all Middle Eastern countries combined.

To get the facts about ULSHO heating oil and what it can do for your home or business, Contact Cubby Oil today.