I have a friend that is about to buy a BO home. It is heated with oil. The place was a flip so there hasn't been a "regular" use of oil heat. Can anyone give me a run down on heating with oil - cost, oil tank maintenance, how long a full tank should last?
thanks
Hi Oldschool,
It really depends on how well insulated the home is: the more heat that escapes, the more the furnace will have to come on to replace the heat.
First of all, if they are going to use this oil furnace, a good professional 'cleaning' is a must. If the oil storage tank is older than 25 yrs old, many insurance companies require a new tank to replace the old one ($1500-2000). And there are different sizes of oil tanks too and that will reflect how long the tank of oil lasts. Furnace filters should be changed every 3 months - cheap ones work fine. The price of a liter of furnace oil is way down this year but it's still twice as expensive as wood heat.
So there are many different possibilities.
thank you, I will let him know
He is a first time home buyer and thought nothing about oil heat....at least until I said something.