Types of fuel

Welcome this week to the Comfort Zone! Our discussion this week touches on the different fuels available to heat your home, and the pros and cons of each.

Each source of fuel contains a known amount of energy and through a mathematical equation, if we know the price of the fuels then we can compare the fuel's cost to us.

What is available to heat with?

Natural Gas

Sold by the cubic meter by a utility. It is an environmentally friendly fossil fuel, clean burning and shipped to your home through a series of distribution piping lines. A meter on the side of the home monitors your usage which then appears on your utility bill. At the present time it is the best value of all fuels available. It is low in cost and there is a huge variety of appliances from furnaces to gas light which can operate on this gas. It is delivered to your home 24 hours a day. Many gas appliances will operate to provide heating even if the power goes off in a storm.

Although generally available in urban areas, it is not available to those people who live outside the urban area requiring them to look at one of the other fuel sources available.

Propane Gas or LP Gas

This gas has almost all the advantages of natural gas except that it is trucked to your home by any number of independent propane suppliers. A tank is either mounted by your house or a short distance away – look for green or white tanks! The propane is then delivered into your home via the distribution system of iron or copper piping. Because the costs to truck it to your home have to be factored in and that it is a by-product of crude oil its price tends to be considerably higher than natural gas. Its price can fluctuate on commodity markets due to supply and demand factors. Many appliances are available to use this versatile gas.

Fuel Oil

Although there are up to six grades of fuel oil, the most common used is #2 fuel oil in our homes. It has a high heat content, is clean burning in modem flame retention burners, and is a safe fossil fuel to heat your home. Like LP gas a network of independent fuel oil suppliers are available to truck it to your home where it is normally stored in a 200 gallon or 909 litre storage tank. The price of fuel oil fluctuates again on the market however its price has been fairly stable in the last 1 - 2 years. It is a by-product of crude oil distillation.

There are many new oil appliances appearing, even modern oil stoves for your living room. These burn fuel oil which produces comfortable economical heat.