Articles - Foolish Over Fuel Oil - HomePro Systems, Inc.

		HomePro Systems, Inc.

HomePro
Systems, Inc.
2841 Hartland Rd
Suite 201
Falls Church, VA 22043
(703) 560-4663
(800) HOMEPRO (800) 966-4555

Home Pro Inspection
Systems Inc.
969 Eldon Road
Oakwood, Ontario
K0M-2M0
800-832-0519

Foolish Over Fuel Oil:

You cannot always rely on your fuel oil supplier to act in your best interest. You can't do without him so you better know how to separate the honest dealers from those who are less so.

The Fuel Supply Business: Your fuel oil supplier actually has a DISINCENTIVE to adjust your equipment to maximum efficiency. Many don't or won't tell you about fuel saving options for your equipment. A few unscrupulous suppliers have been known to SABOTAGE your equipment so it will use more fuel. (They install larger tip sizes, or misrecord the amount of fuel they actually put in your tank.)

Here Is The Quick Check You Should Make: Take your last five years' fuel bills and compare them to the "Degree Days" experienced in the area. Your fuel records should be available from your fuel supplier.

"Heating Degree Days" refers to the number of days and amount in degrees that the outside temperature differs from a specific point. If we had ten days at fifty degrees and the bench mark temperature was 70 degrees, this would total 200 (10 days x 20 degrees difference) degree days. "Degree days" are how your fuel supplier knows when your tank is getting empty and when he should deliver more fuel.

Compare your house's oil consumption to the degree days. There should be a proportional relationship. This would translate to a gallon/degree day ratio.

If your gallon/degree day ratio has been increasing, get very suspicious. If you have added storm windows, insulation, or weather stripping you would expect to see some decrease in the gallondegree day ratio.

The Infrequently Told Facts: Older boilers with integral coils to heat domestic hot water tend to be enormously inefficient at heating the domestic hot water in the summer. Newer boilers with little internal water capacity are much more efficient. If you have a big old boiler you would invariably be better off with a separate water heater, even an electric one. Cost of water heater installation: $400.00 and up.

High speed flame retention oil burners can almost always cut your fuel consumption by 15% and more. They tend to use more air and shape the combustion to get higher temperatures from the same quantity of oil. Installed cost: $350.00 and up.

Barometric dampers on flue pipes adjust the draft, through the combustion chamber to provide continuous efficiency. Installed cost: $75.00 and up.
Downsizing the burner tip size (they are calibrated in gallons per hour) is frequently possible and can lessen the rate of fuel consumption and lessen off cycle losses. Tips cost about $1.00. It takes a competent mechanic to determine whether this is feasible on your equipment.

Maintenance Contracts: All oil burning equipment should be maintained by a professional at least once a year. Tuning is needed this frequently and the lessened fuel consumption will easily save the price of the service call. This is usually done under a maintenance contract with your fuel oil supplier. These maintenance contracts, however, are ROUTINELY POORLY DONE.

Your Oil Burner and What To Look For: A pump brings oil from the tank and pushes it through a tip with a tiny orifice (which enlarges and wears out with usage) to atomize the oil into tiny particles. The atomized oil is mixed with a measured quantity of air blown in around it. Electrodes provide a hot spark to ignite the mixture.

To maintain an efficient burn, the fuelair mixture must be accurately adjusted and maintained. Air should enter the combustion chamber only via the burner and the draft should he regulated by a barometric damper (a flat plate that pivots in the middle) installed on the flue. Turn the thermostat down, open the damper plate and look inside the flue pipe with a flashlight. Heavy deposits of soot indicate that the burner is not running efficiently and that the equipment isn't being maintained properly. Retrofit installations of barometric dampers run around $75.00, but some very old boilers and furnaces won't necessarily readily accommodate a damper.

Cracks around doors or through sections of the boiler that show the light of the fire will function as air inlets and hence guarantees that the unit will run inefficiently. These should be sealed with refractory cement.

Getting What You Pay For With A Maintenance Contract: If your serviceman is in and out of your house in 30 minutes, he can't possibly be doing all that the job entails. He should have a vacuum to suck out the soot at the fluechimney connection. (The chimney flue should be inspected for obstructions with a mirror and strong flashlight.) The metal flue pipe including barometric damper should be cleaned and the damper plate pivot ends lubricated. If your system has a vent damper this should usually be cleaned and lubricated. The burner nozzle, electrodes, and fan assembly should also be cleaned. The heat exchanger and combustion chamber should be brushed and vacuumed.

Testing and adjusting: It takes a full instrument kit to properly test and adjust the following:

Draft: Readings between .01 and .03 inches of water are common. Too much draft wastes fuel while too little causes poor combustion.

Flue Temperature: Usually between 400 to 500 degrees F. Higher readings mean a lot of heat is either blocked in the flue or is escaping up the chimney. (High speedflame retention burners result in higher flue temperatures.) Ask for an explanation of readings above 700 degrees F. as this is approaching fire hazard range.

Smoke: A handheld pump draws combustion products out of the flue and through a paper. The stained spot on the paper is compared with a color scale. The lighter the better. (If you can't find a hole (about 1/4 inch diameter) in the metal flue it may mean that this type of testing isn't being accomplished.

Carbon Dioxide: Used to plot efficiency. Numbers close to 14% are good news. Always ask your maintenance man what size tip he has replaced (they usually leave it) and what size he has installed. Changes in size merit explanations. Likewise ask for the flue temperature readings before and after maintenance.

Misleading Efficiency Ratings: Once the technician tests, adjusts, and retests, he indicates his readings on a tag and records an efficiency percentage. This efficiency percentage can be very MISLEADING. This is not the operating efficiency of your equipment. This number indicates the efficiency of the burn itself. The operating efficiency is always lower. Ask for an extrapolation of the SEASONALLY ADJUSTED EFFICIENCY. This takes into account the off cycle losses of the equipment and is the data you need to make any intelligent decision regarding upgrading equipment or changing fuels. Check with the power company or the gas company for their interpretations of your equipment's efficiency.

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