Should I Buy A Home That Uses Heating Oil?

Buying a new home is a decision that’s made up of dozens of smaller choices, including where to live, what type of home to buy, and more.

But two of the most overlooked factors that come into play when evaluating a home purchase here in Massachusetts are also two of the most important: the kind of heating system your future uses, and the type of fuel that powers it.

A heating system can have a dramatic affect on both your comfort and energy costs, especially here in the northeast where we rely on heat for at least two-thirds of the year. On the plus side, there are many options for heating our homes here in the northeast, including natural gas, propane, and electricity.

But when it comes to providing the best heating solution for the challenge of a New England winter, there’s really only one choice: tried-and-true heating oil.

Heating Oil Benefits

Why choose a home that uses oil heat? Consider these benefits:

1. It’s burns hot – Heating oil burns 300 degrees hotter than natural gas, which means your home will heat faster with heating oil than it will with any other fuel (kind of important here in MA). You will also need to burn less heating oil to stay comfortable, which means you’ll spend less on energy bills.
2. It’s safe – Heating oil is one of the safest sources of home energy around – it’s harmless at room temperature (it must be heated to 140 degrees and vaporized in order to burn) and will never explode, unlike natural gas.
3. It’s abundant – During the winter, high demand can strain natural gas supplies, as we saw last winter. Heating oil rarely encounters this problem.
4. It’s cost effective – Adjusted for inflation, today’s heating oil prices are about the same as they were in the mid-1970s, making heating oil a bargain in the home energy game.
5. It’s clean burning – Today’s ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) burns 95 percent cleaner than heating oil did 50 years ago – and Bioheat® fuel blends raises the clean-burning bar even higher.
6. You may double your equipment life – With proper professional preventative maintenance, today’s oil-fired heating furnaces and boilers can last 30 years or more – as much as twice as long as systems powered by natural gas or propane.

The bottom line: When shopping for a new (or new for you) home, keep the heating system in mind – and keep an eye out for those heating oil gems! Once you’re settled into your new digs, contact Needham Oil Complete Heating & Cooling for the most reliable heating oil deliveries in our Middlesex or Norfolk County service area, plus expert heating maintenance and heating repairs for your oil-fired equipment!