Unfortunately, oil is very difficult to get as clean a combustion as natural gas or propane because its molecular make up is high in carbon. As a heating fuel in rural areas oil is and has been a favourite for many years. Oil is really #2 fuel oil which is slightly less refined than #1 oil kerosene or stove oil. An oil furnace or boiler uses a burner that pressurizes the oil and injects it thru a nozzle at high pressure. The atomized droplets of oil mix with air and are ignited with a high voltage spark. The set up of a burner requires sophisticated test equipment to obtain proper combustion.

Clean oil is important. Your tank filter needs to be changed on a regular basis and more sophisticated oil equipment need filters as fine as 10 micros to filter out contaminates & dirt. Modern oil furnaces can be side wall vented although there are distance limitations to these units. The burners must be set up properly otherwise nuisance lock outs and sooting & damage to the wall of your house will result.

All oil fired systems in Ontario require inspection through T.S.S oil tanks and underground fuel tanks will require updating and change out. Oil lines encased in concrete are not acceptable unless coated. These will need to be changed as well as furnaces firing into unlined chimneys will need to be checked and in some cases a liner will need to be installed.

If you require an expensive changeout to continue using your oil fired system you may want to examine cost comparative alternatives such as, propane & natural gas. They do not require periodic reinspections at this point in time. Propane offers a more varied variety of appliances such as stoves, ranges, pool heaters, lights, fireplaces water heaters, furnaces and more. It currently enjoys a price advantage over oil and is much cleaner burning. High efficiency propane is between 92 to 97% efficient. Propane vents through a wall using low cost plastic pipe like ABS/PVC. A tank is placed on or near the house and a regulator or regulators are used to safely control the propane from the tank to your house. Give me a call if you would like more information on switching to high efficiency propane.

Wood

Wood & wood combination furnaces have existed for some period of time. Wood has tremendous energy if the wood is dry, high density such as hardwood. Properly installed wood furnace or box can effectively heat your home. It still is not a convenient form of heat, because of the lack of technical controls to turn on and off the combustion process. It can control an air damper but it does not automatically light then extinguish automatically itself like an oil fired system.

Still for people in rural areas with ready access to wood on their own property, you can't beat the cost of the fuel. It must be cut, split then seasoned at least 2 seasons to get the maximum heat content out of the wood. Using green wood will promote creosote buildup as well as giving you very little heat as the combustion of the wood uses up its energy just to boil off the water in the wood.

Pellets

Pellets are available in corn & wood. Both are good. They are compressed and dried into regular shapes. An auger can be used to deliver these into the combustion chamber as well as igniter systems have been developed to light these stoves. They can be vented out through the wall allowing no chimney to he used. They have the aesthetic look of a real wood tire. Some have a better back up if power goes out to allow heat, the same as natural gas & propane systems do. Pellet stones remain popular but mostly in rural areas & areas where pellets are fairly cheap to buy.