Archive for the ‘Energy Savings Techniques’ Category

Can Purchasing A Waste Oil Burner Really Save Me Money?

Monday, December 12th, 2011
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Most items the average homeowner purchases in his lifetime will end up costing him money as long as he has it.  Vehicles, boats, appliances, furniture, various forms of entertainment and the actual house itself are not only expensive to buy but expensive to maintain during its lifespan.

So you can understand why I am a firm believer in any homeowner at least exploring the idea of investing into some kind of waste oil technology.

It is only item I have ever purchased for my home that has made me money instead of taken it away.

Any waste oil burner you purchase will not just save you money but put money back into your pocket.

Depending on which part of the country you live in you can potentially save yourself several thousand dollars a year in heating costs.

My current waste oil boiler that I bought back in 2007 is giving me an annual savings of over $4,500.

I have made some new additions to my home and without being supplied free heat my monthly bills would easily topple $500 a month.

But, where do you get the oil?  I do not have access to enough used motor oil every month to run my waste oil burner?

True, I am in a unique situation.  I owned a mobile oil change company and getting a steady supply of used oil was never a problem for me.

But, since I started this blog I have sold that company.  I get all my oil from a local tire shop two miles away from where I live.  Though their primary service is tires they offer oil changes as well for their customers.

That one store is able to supply me all the oil I need.

If that ever ran out I would go to several mechanic or transmission shops and cut a deal with them.

Most businesses that generate it just would like to get rid of it.  Very few shop owners will expect you to pay them for something that is considered a headache. They would not mind at all someone coming every week, or month, to take it off their hands.

Isn’t maintenance really high for waste oil furnaces or boilers?

These heaters have a bad reputation for breaking down often.  Many people make the argument that waste oil technology is great…when it’s working.

This industry has come a long way since its inception.  The products being manufactured are better than ever now.  I have owned my waste oil boiler from Energy Logic for 4 ½ years and it has never broken down on me.

I can attribute my boiler being problem free for two main reasons:

  1. I do an excellent job at filtering the waste oil going into it.  Not only do I let each barrel sit for several days so that all the sediment settles to the bottom but I also run all my oil through a waste oil centrifuge.  Before I purchased my centrifuge I ran all my oil through a 30 micron filter, twice.
  2. I get a tune-up every single year.  I not only get my boiler cleaned but get it checked out by a certified technician. Several potential problems that would not have affected my boiler for months were caught and fixed well in advance.

For what waste oil burner can potentially save you I firmly believe that it is worth every homeowner at least checking into it.  Some neighborhoods and city ordinances so not allow them but it is very rare.

Best Heating System You can Get

Thursday, November 12th, 2009
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Do you think I regret my decision in purchasing a waste oil burner at all when my natural gas bills come in?

Its the best heating system I could have every gotten.

As you can see from the picture below my total heating expense for this month was $9.00.  I live in the coldest state of the the country and my gas bill is only nine dollars!  Sometimes I cannot believe this whole idea of mine actually worked.

How do you think I am able to do this?  The answer is I bought a waste oil boiler back in 2007.

I have a company that generates tons of used waste oil and it was becoming a pain to get rid of it.  I was having a company come by and pick it up every other week and it was becoming a huge pain.  At times they wanted to charge me for it as well even though they planned to re-sell it to companies who make asphalt.

October Natural Gas Bill

October Natural Gas Bil

So as you may already know every furnace or boiler has an oil burner in them.  Some of them run off natural gas, some run on electricity, but most of them throughout this country (especially on the east coast) run off heating oil.   I  had found out, from doing a lot of research, that you can purchase oil burners especially designed to run off used motor oil.

I was skeptical as usual (its very hard to convince me of anything) but the idea of being able to completely heat your home, office, or any building you own off a product that’s considered waste by most people was just too tempting to pass up.

I live in Alaska and as you may or may not know winter in this area lasts for six to seven months.  And as you might have guessed it gets extremely cold (duh!). So you can also imagine how much a person stands to save if he could totally erase a heating bill from his monthly expenses.

I have already saved thousands by purchasing my Energy Logic waste oil boiler.  Every ounce of heat I use now is absolutely free.  As of now I can run my home and garage at 80 degrees or 60 degrees and it does not matter.

As I have stated before every winter the gas company have become suspicious of me tampering with the meter.  I have told the meter guys over and over again that I am not running my home off natural gas.

They do not seem to believe me.  Most people have no idea that this type of alternative energy technology even exists.  Those guys have every home in their grid on their computer system and cannot accept the fact that I only owe them $9.00 a month when its -20 Fahrenheit outside.  I think its hilarious.  If I were in their shoes I would think the exact same thing.

So I know for a fact that once the weather dips down to bellow zero (its actually been fairy warm for November) I’ll be seeing some of the meter guys come wanting to talk to me and ask me all sorts of questions because they think I am lying to them.

Investing in my waste oil burner for my boiler has helped me become more self sufficient and has allowed me to reduce my heating bill to absolutely nothing (well, $9.00 for the hook-up fee).

I have not had any problems with my set-up at all.  I have taken the time and funds to maintain my expensive machine and it has never given any problems whatsoever.  You have to filter the oil, make certain no condensation gets into your burner, and do annual tune ups every years.  If you do this I can almost guarantee that you will have the same results.

Maximize Oil Burner Efficiency

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
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I have written about this topic before but I think its a really important subject that can help people with save a lot of money on their heating bill.   This  is of interest to anyone who desires better fuel efficiency.

If you have a boiler you need to purchase a fuel economizer because they really can reduce your heating needs by 20%.

My own personal oil burner has used 2-3 less gallons of waste oil everyday since I installed it and if you are a person that uses heating oil than those savings at$ 2.50/gal equal savings of $7.50 daily.  That’s significant.

Over the course of a month that’s $210.  Now heating oil is different than waste oil but even if its half that amount its worth it!

beckett-heat-manager

I have a Beckett Heat Manager.  I have found this device to be the best in my own personal experience and talking with several professionals I know (I am not getting paid to say this, I promise). 

You will usually find that they retail for approximately $300 if you buy it at any heating store.  You can find them for significantly less online. 

I got mine for $185.00.  I guess its worth the savings buying the Heat Manager online if you can stand to wait several days to a week.

It works by automatically adjusting the oil burner’s firing patterns and the normal water temperature to match the system’s heat load.  They are designed to work with the controls of your existing boiler controls and the aquastat ( the device used in hydronic heating systems for controlling the water temperature). 

I have not had any trouble with mine and I have a fairly intricate set-up that’s highly multi-zoned.

The ads for this device said that it controls fuel consumption, wear on parts, flue emissions, and electrical usage and I have found all these things to be true.  I was really pleased with this purchase so I figure it was worth it to reiterate what I said over six months ago about this particular product. 

They are great for anyone who owns an oil burner hooked up to a boiler type system.