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There are two major methods used to warm the home: gas and oil. Over eight and a half million people in the US use heating oil as their main heat source, with a good percentage of these homes in the cold North Eastern USA.
The standard heating oil is a heavy flammable petroleum product – a by product of diesel. However, not all home heating oil is derived from crude oil. Biofuel too has also found acceptance and use for generating heat in the home. Petroleum heating oil is of three main types. In the United States, each of the three types is denoted by a number. Number 1 refers to kerosene. Of the three types of heating petroleum fuels used in the home, kerosene is the purest. However, this level of purity comes at a price as dollar for dollar, kerosene fuel is among the more expensive fuels anyone can use for domestic heating. Number 2 refers to diesel, which has a significantly higher volume of impurities than kerosene. Diesel is the most commonly used home oil for home heating. The third type of fuel used for heating the home is number 4 fuel, which is a mixture of distillate fuel and residual fuel.
The price of home heating oil will generally mirror the trend of global crude oil prices, however it does shift seasonally based on demand, regardless of crude oil’s day to day shifts. During winter with demand at its peak and this will often translate to high prices. To hedge against this, many people will often stock up on heating during summer when prices are comparatively lower (if they have storage ability). You can achieve this by having a single high capacity tank or installing several tanks. Note that domestic oil storage tanks can be either underground or above ground. Most homes have above ground oil storage tanks as they are cheaper and easier to setup and relocate. Underground tanks are more suitable where large capacity is required but they come with a higher price tag. One thing you must do however is to make sure that regardless of the location of the tank, it must be fireproof.
As earlier mentioned, oil is not the only heating agent you can use at home. In fact, gas is by far the most frequently used home heating agent in the Unites States. Gas trumps heating oil because of one key factor: availability. Gas supply to the home is direct in virtually every part of the country so there is no need to worry about the fuel running out of supply as long as you are current on your gas bill. There is also less unit cost variation in winter when one is using gas as compared to oil. The cost of fitting a gas heating system is also lower than that of heating oil, although many people are hesitant to switch over because there still is a significant switching cost in place if you are already set up for heating oil.
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Source by John C Ryan