New, high-efficiency oil heating may burn as cleanly as gas furnaces.
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As the cost of heating with oil increases, many home owners look for other heat sources. For those who don't have access to natural gas, propane is one of the alternatives. For the 2010 heating season, propane was still more expensive than oil, but the price was rising at a slower rate. Gas furnaces are, on average, more efficient than oil furnaces and cleaner, but modern oil furnaces can approach the efficiencies and clean burning of gas furnaces. Environmentally, for new furnaces, the two fuels are also comparable, with propane having a slight edge.
Cost
The cost of heating oil has risen rapidly from 2009 to 2011. For the 2010/2011 heating season, the average cost of heating oil per gallon went from $2.96 in October to $3.88 in March. This compares to an average cost of $2.77 in December 2009. Propane has also increased in price, but not to the same extent. For the 2010/2011 heating season, average propane costs per gallon went from $2.40 in October to $2.87 in March. In December 2009, propane costs were at $2.39. Since it takes 1.52 gallons of propane to deliver the equivalent BTUs of one gallon of oil, the prices equivalent to the oil prices are $3.63 for December 2009 and $3.65 and $4.36 for 2010/2011 respectively.
Efficiency
Oil furnaces, even the latest high efficiency models, do not reach the same high level of efficiency as gas furnaces that can burn propane. Typical figures are 80 percent efficiency for oil furnaces compared to 85 percent for gas furnaces. For high efficiency models, oil furnaces range up to 89 percent while the best gas furnaces reach 97 percent. The higher efficiency makes up for some of the higher price of propane, when evaluated on a per BTU basis, but propane will still cost more overall.
Environment
For traditional oil and gas furnaces, propane burns much more cleanly than oil. For high-efficiency models, the difference almost disappears, with propane still having a slight edge. In other respects, the two fuels are similar in that they are both non-renewable fossil fuels. Although propane is produced in the United States, it is a by-product of oil and natural gas refining, and suffers from the same disadvantages as oil, although to a slightly lesser extent.
Safety
Oil has a better safety record than propane because oil is harder to ignite and does not explode. Propane must be treated with special care since it is heavier than air and, when leaks occur, it tends to gather in basements where it may be ignited by a spark, causing an explosion. A second area of concern is that propane, when burned with insufficient oxygen, produces carbon monoxide, which can be deadly. Oil does not have this problem.
References
- Energy Savers: Selecting Heating Fuel and System Types
- American Distributing: Heating Oil
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Residential Heating Oil Prices by Region and State
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Residential Propane Prices by Region and State
Photo Credits
- Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images