Oil Companies Deliver Gasoline Instead of Heating Oil (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

A bit scary.

 

[Philip_G]

the oil burned in oil furnaces is pretty much diesel fuel. I never thought it would be THAT big of a deal

 

[Michael*K]

Yet another reason to give thanks for having natural gas here.

 

[Timon Russo]

Seems like "could have caused a major fire" might have been an understatement!
We've got gas here too. In fact, I've got gas AND electric.

 

[Philip_G]

how bad could it be.. the oil furnaces pretty much just spray oil into the combustion box and ignite it, I mean, a puddle of gas in the bottom can't be that bad, right?

 

[Malcolm R]

how bad could it be..

From what they explained on the news, gasoline is much more volatile than heating oil and burns at a much higher temperature.

So, if the boiler didn't set the entire storage tank on fire, and possibly explode, the gas feeding into the furnace would burn at such a high temperature it would burn right through the firebox (and move onto whatever else it encounters).

Fortunately, no one has put this theory to test (so far). They seem to have caught up with all the errant deliveries (about 50 homes) before any catastrophes occurred.

 

[Philip_G]

dunno. never worked on many oil furnaces, ripped a few out and installed gas though
can't imagine running an oil fired boiler. Talk about spendy heat bills. Not to mention your basement stinking like diesel.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

I could see these homes blowing up.
can't imagine running an oil fired boiler. Talk about spendy heat bills. Not to mention your basement stinking like diesel.
I grew up with an oil furnace and it did smell of diesel. I have been in a few homes lately that have had their old oil furnaces updated and there is no smell, just like gas heat. They are more economical than the old 50 year old units. I would think heating oil would put out more heat than gas, but not be a volatile and dangerous. It contains about twice the btu's per equal measure.

 

[Philip_G]

it does, but it's also more expensive to purchase, requires a LOT more maintenance (which seldom gets done, you need to filter the fuel and those need to be replaced, not a fun job) and it's difficult to find good oil furnace techs. My dad had a GREAT oil guy working for him, but he was murdered while on vacation :frowning:
also if you're replacing an existing oil furnace that's vented into a brick chimney, current code (in the states I've worked) requires a STAINLESS STEEL flu liner, that's mega spendy. thousand bucks or so
the shit still stinks like diesel. There's almost always spilled oil in the basement from said filter changes, it's like the smell never goes away. Didn't mean to imply the whole house stinks, you'd have more serious problems than oil if it did.