Archive for December, 2009

Make Your Burner Run Smoothly

Saturday, December 26th, 2009
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Winter is here and a lot of us are running our heating system non stop these days.  Here is some advice to make certain your oil burner is running as smooth as it possibly can.

Get A Tune Up

You do not want to go several years without getting a tune up on your oil burner.  This applies to everyone no matter if they have a furnace or boiler.  You need to get an inspection at least once every two years and it needs to be done right.

There are a lot of hidden “energy hogs” that could be costing you a lot of money in extra heating bills every month that you are not aware of.  The price of natural gas and heating oil is not going down, if you have not noticed, so you want to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck.

They have the right tools and knowledge to scan your whole system, check your spark (or transformer), nozzles, pump, or wiring.  Unless you have been trained on these things there is no way you could do this by yourself.

Get Your Tank Cleaned

If you have a holding tank, which you will if your system runs of heating oil, than you need to get it cleaned every so often.  How often, I really do not know, but moisture does build up in there and it can clog your nozzles.

Sometimes they take care of this when you get a tune up for your oil burner and sometimes they do not but you should make certain it gets done.

Get Quality Replacements

When you replace your nozzles or actual burners from time to time I would recommend you get quality replacements and not the cheapest thing you can find.  I am a huge fan of Beckett oil burners because they have been around the longest and their stuff rarely breaks down (unless it was not maintenanced properly). Weil Mcleans are good as well.

There are other really inexpensive models on the market and you might save a little on the front end but on the back in they will cost you hundreds maybe thousands.

Make Your System More Effiecient

There is a tool that I love called the Beckett Heat Manager that will make your whole oil burner system run a lot better.  This little device that you can get for under $200 will decrease your fuel consumption by anywhere from 10% and can be as much as 20%.  I personally saw a 15% decrease in fuel consumption.  Keep in mind I have a waste oil boiler so your results could be a little different but the process is the same.

Waste Oil Burners Equal Zero Heating Bill

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
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This is not your ordinary oil burner that I am going to be talking about.  What I am about to mention is completely foreign for most people.

I have said this in previous posts but I think it is worth repeating. I love my waste oil boiler system.  It is one of the best things that I have put money into.

Why do I make a statement like that?

Quite simply, since my business partner and I purchased a waste oil burner heating system back in 2007 we have been able to save approximately $400 on a monthly basis.

To me having this machine is the equivalent to having a rental property that is making its owner passive income.  Its the exact same concept.  Its additional money being put into your pocket that you did not have to work for.

If we did not have an Energy Logic waste oil heating system than we would be spending an extra $400+ to heat his home and our shop (the shop where we run three businesses is next door) every single month.

I had known many people with the exact same systems as ours but they failed to maintain and take care of their machines.  They failed to filter the oil going into their burner and they never got annual tune-ups.  You can imagine what happened…

It did not take long for their boiler or furnace to start breaking down and then started the complaints that this technology was worthless.  Those myths abound everywhere.

I heard from many guys who worked for companies who had purchased waste oil boilers who said their boss uninstalled these machines after buying them because they were giving them way too much trouble.

They ragged on them and said they did not work and blah blah this and blah blah that.

You can go on these forums and you will hear people saying the exact same thing.  I got into an argument with this guy because he said that “Omni and Energy logic boilers sucked.” There were nothing good about these two brands.

He claimed that he was a boiler technician who had to fixed tons of the very same ones that I have.

Well, my waste oil boiler has never broken down.  It has never given me any problems.  I still pay $10 a month for the hook up fee to natural gas just in case my waste oil boiler breaks down and I have never had to use it whatsoever.

Its my firm conviction that pretty much any brand will last if you take care of it.  This device is not hands off and if you purchase one you have to be willing to invest the time to properly maintain it.

Since day one we have filtered all the oil going into my system.  The system that we have set up goes beyond the call of duty in doing this.  Many things we do are probably unnecessary but I want to make absolutely sure this expensive $11,000 investment lasts.

These oil burners are very delicate and can clog up easily if you do not take the utmost care of them.  You need to make certain that you get as much of the contaminants out as possible, including water, and make certain that no chlorine gets in there.  In addition you need yearly tune-ups on them.

If you do the same you will have a waste oil burner system that will last a long time without any problems.

I have said it many times and I will keep saying it.

I think this technology is wonderful and I want everyone to know about it but if you would like to take advantage of it you need to know how to protect your $8000+ investment ( more than that with shipping and installation).

If you do not than you will waste your money and then prevent others from wanting to get one.

I am glad to see  that small towns are investing in these things now.  These small villages or towns do not have huge budgets so I know it takes a lot of convince them.  They will not be sorry for their investment into waste oil technology.

Here is the latest example that I have found:

The town of Cambellsport, Wisconsin built a new Department of Public works buildings and installed a waste oil boiler to heat it.

Marvelous!  More places like this should jump on board. They would save a bundle and could finally stop raising our property taxes.