Many people question whether purchasing a waste oil heater, of any kind, will be worth the price tag. This is a very legitimate concern. These things are not cheap and any intelligent person would want a reasonable return on investment he he were to put out that kind of capital. Expect to invest over $10K if you want a new system and $6-$8K if you get it used. Here is my experience with my purchase of a waste oil boiler.
This is a great investment if you can afford the initial cost. I paid a little over $11,000 to purchase my oil boiler and get it set up. That was a lot of money. But I figured that in 4 years I would get my money back. The cost of natural gas went up where I live, Anchorage, 22% so my rate of return on my investment went up. I am going to make that eleven grand back in three years.
Before I got my oil burner, and btw, they’re called numerous names, oil burner, oil boiler, used waste oil furnace, so I use the words interchangeably, but before I purchased it my gas bills were running me a little over $300 per month. That was before I added a 1700 square foot garage to my house for my business. So my gas bills would have been double. I would have been paying at least $600 per month for heat.
Can you guess what my bills read when I open them. They read $9 per month and thats just for the standard set up fee. I could get that disconnected but I figure I like having the set up just in case something happens.
So I am saving at minimum $3,600 per year in heating my house. Those savings are significant. So My ROI is 33%. I will take that any day.
I ended up going with the Black Gold. There are many other brands out there as well. The Black Gold waste oil burner seems to be the most durable, last the longest, and is relatively quiet compared to the other ones I saw.
So when you are thinking about buying a waste oil boiler you have to remember two things so far.
First, you want to make sure that you are going to have an adequate supply of waste oil to heat your machine. If you don’t then it will turn into a nightmare and you will not be saving anything and you have just wasted a bunch of time and money.
Second, you want to calculate a reasonable return on investment when you are thinking about getting a oil burner. How long is it going to be until you recoup your money. Its worth it for me because I live in a place that has six months of winter and I could see right off the bat that I could make my money back in 3-4 years maybe sooner. I know that in most states winter only lasts for 3-4 months but you all pay way higher rates than we do. If it is going to take you 5-6 years to get your money back then you want to think about if it is worth it.
Next post we will get into the topic about maintenance and how to keep up with your boiler once you buy it so that it does not break down every month.
