Oil Burner Guide

I get many questions throughout the month from people asking me two questions.  They are a) what do waste oil boilers/ burners or furnaces cost and b) are they worth that cost?

I think these are very good questions to ask.  Many people today are interested in various forms of alternative energy heating but they also want them to be economically feasible and give some sort of reasonable return.

I can assure you that this form of heating will do both.

How Much Do They Cost?

This is will depend on what type of structure you want to use your boiler (or burner) for.  Are you are going to be heating a home, office building, or small shop?  You are going to find that many companies that make waste oil boilers will have at at least three models for heating small, medium, and large areas.  The larger the area you have the larger your hot water output (for boilers) or air flow (for furnaces) will have to be.

The prices can range from $5,000 all the way to $10,000 for your waste oil boiler, fuel tank, and several optional accessories.  That does not include the installation and set-up.  That alone could cost you an additional $2,000.  Here is the breakdown of my total costs for my personal waste oil boiler.  My basic package was $5,698 but once I added a hot water coil, a 250 gallon workbench holding tank with a furnace stand, a plumbing and hardware package, and tank gauge the total cost came out to be $8,000.  I then had to pay an additional $2,000 for shipping.  Keep in mind that I live in Anchorage so my shipping will be a lot more than everyone else.  So the total cost I paid for my Energy Logic El-200 model ended up being $10,000.  Following that expenditure I still had to pay another $2,000 for the installation of my machine including connecting all the thermostats, pipes, hydronic lines and tubing to my house and my newly build 1,700 two story garage/shop adjacent to it.

There are some lessor models like Lanair that you can get for $4,000-$5000.  Keep in mind that that is just for the base package and you will need to add at least $1,500 to whatever base package you see to make it workable.  I would strongly recommend going with some of the top brands.  These devices are extremely delicate and if you get one of the cheaper models you can be sure to have problems.  I personally am a big fan of Columbia and Energy Logic but there are others that are just as good.  Beckett makes a lot of the components for these companies as well as some add ons you can get like the Beckett heat manager (also known as a fuel economizer).

Is the Cost for an Oil Burner/ Boiler Worth It?

Absolutely!  I have save thousands of dollars in heating cost by having one.  I would not trade mine for the world.  My oil boiler has enabled me to have $10 heating bills in February.  If I had not purchased one that bill with my home and shop would have been at least $400 a month during the wintertime especially when you consider the fact that we had to coldest winter in the last ten years.  I saved at least $1800 just this last winter and because all my heat was free and I had an abundance of waste oil I had the temperature in my home and business at 80 degrees all the time.

I would say that I have gotten all my money back and for many of the people who live in this country the ROI will be fast because your costs of shipping an installation will be lower.  Depending on where you live you should be able to recoup all your money in two to three years.  Your return could be greater if natural gas and heating costs continue to rise at their current levels.