What to Consider When Choosing a Heating Oil Provider

If you recently moved into a new home that uses heating oil, or if you are about to make the switch to an oil burning furnace or boiler, the first thing you’ll need to do is choose a heating oil provider in your area. There are quite literally hundreds of heating oil companies in New Jersey to choose from, so how do you know you’re getting the best for your home? Here are a few things to consider.

Automatic Delivery and Other Services

A good heating oil company does more than just deliver oil. Your heating oil company of choice should provide automatic delivery programs that ensure you never run out of oil. The last thing you want is to wake up on an icy January morning to see your tank is empty and you have to wait a day or two for the oil company to get out. The right company will not only track your oil deliveries but contact you when they feel it is time for a refill, or if you sign up for an automatic delivery program, visit your home at a set interval to provide oil.

Additionally, it is advantageous if your heating oil company can provide maintenance for your oil burning systems. Instead of having to hire a second HVAC company to visit and perform maintenance on your system, you can rely on your heating oil delivery company to come out whenever you have a problem and fix it - that number is right in front of you. It’s a lot easier and more reliable.

Low Rate Lock-ins

Different companies offer different specials and discounts, so find one that fits your specific needs, whether you are retired or a veteran or you will be paying automatically with electronic funds transfers. These can all result in discounts. Other options include flexible payment plans that allow you to pay the same amount each month throughout the year for a set amount of oil. While the amount may fluctuate year to year as the price of oil changes, this makes it a lot easier to pay your bills by splitting your fees up over 12 months instead of two or three very large payments in fall and winter.

There may be other offers as well. Make sure to check for things like hidden fees and always read the full terms of service to ensure the company will actually match your needs.

Finally, ask around. Don’t be afraid to ask your neighbors who they use to provide their heating oil. In New Jersey, a lot of your neighbors have oil-based heat, so you can almost certainly get a good idea of which company will best fit your needs based on the service provided to your neighbors. Ariba Oil has the pleasure of providing such service to thousands of homeowners throughout the region, so give us a call and ask to talk with one of our service specialists if you’re ready to learn more about the benefits of oil heating.

Why to Use Heating Oil to Heat Your Home

There are a lot of questions about oil heat and the benefits and advantages of using it for your New Jersey home. To help you choose the right heating fuel for your home, here are a few things you may not know about heating oil and the specific benefits it can offer.

High Efficiency Levels

Well before the government started requiring manufacturers to reach higher AFUE (efficiency) ratings in heating systems, oil heating equipment was considered among the best on the market. Even today, a new oil heating system offers an AFUE rating in the low-mid 80% range, ensuring you use as little heating oil as possible to keep your home warm throughout the coldest days of winter. Newer, high-efficiency systems offer higher ratings than this, sometimes as high as 92%.

More Effective Heating

For every gallon of heating oil you get from your oil company, 138,000 BTUs of heat is generated for your home. An oil heating system can reach temperatures of 3,000 degrees when burning, meaning your home heats up much faster and subsequently is much more efficient without long warm up or cool down periods.

Safe and Environmentally Sound

Despite concerns some homeowners have, oil heating is very safe. In fact, if you dropped a lit match into an open oil tank, the match would go out. Because of how oil is stored and burned, there is a very low risk related to using it in a boiler or furnace. The system will operate effectively for years and you will barely realize it is on.

Additionally, recent advances in both oil refining technology and oil burner efficiency has reduced the volume of oil consumed for home heating by 6 billion gallons per year in the United States despite the fact that more than 350,000 new oil heating systems have been installed in the last decade alone. This spike in efficiency makes oil heating a good choice in most areas where the only alternative is electricity which can be very costly as a source of heating.

Versatility

Oil heating systems can be the sole source of heating for your New Jersey home or they can be a supplement to another system such as an electric heat pump. This makes it possible to customize your oil heating system to match the temperature, available energy sources and efficiency of your home’s HVAC system without paying any more than is absolutely necessary each winter.

Oil heating is safe, efficient and highly effective for heating throughout the New Jersey area. To learn more about heating oil efficiency, contact an area oil company such as Ariba Oil.

For many years we have been providing reliable oil supply services to homeowners throughout the region and can do the same for you, whether you have an existing oil heating system or are interested in having a new one installed in your home for the first time.