Oil vs Gas Heaters – What You Should Know
Comparing oil and gas heaters is not easy – some people swear that oil is the only way to go, others think that gas has to be it. Statistics can tell you what is more commonly installed and used here in the US – gas has approximately 50% coverage, gas is around 8%, but could that be just that people are missing out? We can only tell you the facts as we see them, certainly there are circumstances where one or the other could be more beneficial.
Costs
Cost of the fuel definitely works out cheaper with gas – averagely, a home will spend $690 to heat over the winter with gas, but that figure skyrockets to $2,558 with heat oil.
An oil fired furnace actually extracts more heat per BTU than gas, but is less efficient, therefore, it is using more fuel. There is also cost of maintenance and oil storage to consider, although the price of an oil furnace is generally considerably cheaper than a gas furnace.
Convenience
Aside from technical difficulties which could happen with either gas or oil, unless you have a monitoring system on contract with your oil delivery, there is a very real possibility that you could run out of oil, whereas the gas comes directly into your home through an underground pipe; it’s very unlikely to run out unless it gets shut off for some reason.
Maintenance
Both gas and oil powered furnaces require maintenance, some will tell you that oil needs hardly any looking after, but you’ll also hear that from the gas ‘preachers’. In our experience, oil requires a little more maintenance and can be a little dirtier.
If you’d like to find out more about the benefits of each type of fuel, talk to one of our professionals and let them give you unbiased and expert advice. Contact us online or call us toll-free at 540-373-5876.