Ask Jon Eakes

Last Updated: Friday, October 15th, 1999, Created: Friday, October 15th, 1999

WHAT IS OIL DOWNSIZING?

One morning the oil furnace and boiler companies woke up to discover they were the Canadian bad guys -- everybody was condemning oil burning furnaces and the government was even paying people to scrap them. The oil furnace and boiler companies had to admit that they had been pretty contented and lazy up to that point; with more oil furnaces than any other kind in Canada at the time, they hadn't done much more about mileage than Chrysler before the energy efficient push in cars. By high noon on that same shocking day (the one we call the late 1970's oil crises" they had dusted off all kinds of old research projects. Low and behold, there were suddenly a variety of legitimate attachments available for oil furnaces and boilers which can effectively make a big one smaller and make all of them much more efficient.

For a while it was difficult to justify installing a new oil furnace to replace the old one. The word was "Off Oil". Today, is oil really is the most available fuel in your area, you can find new high efficiency furnaces that do burn oil. If you have a very old furnace, with the present and future cost of oil you should probably scrap it, even if it is still heating. It is simply costing you too much in fuel. But if that old oil appliance has a number of years life left in it, you might want to consider not just tuning it up -- but downsizing it. Here's how:

-- Clean it inside and out and tune it up with a service call.

-- Have the service man reduce the size of the oil nozzle, cutting back on the amount of oil it burns, and effectively making it a smaller furnace. Some efficiency is lost in the furnace itself but greater efficiency is gained in the whole system by operating closer to the system's maximum: the system now better fits the house.

-- Increase the fan speed to draw more heat out of the furnace. This should be balanced with changes in the nozzle size to maintain sufficient flue temperatures. (Increasing the water pump speed on a water system will have the same effect, but is not usually practical to do.)

-- Increase "fan-on" time before and after operation to draw more heat from the furnace.

-- Install burner "retention heads" to burn the oil more completely and squeeze out all the heat possible.

-- Install a solenoid valve on the oil line to eliminate losses during start-up and shut-down" (A "clutch coupling" does the same thing -- don't bother with both.)

-- You can save energy by installing automatic dampers designed to stop flue losses when the furnace is not in operation. Do not use them if the chimney is a critical part of your ventilation system (planned-hole-high-in-the-house). (search keyword "Neutral Plane" for the title "WHAT IS A PLANNED-HOLE-HIGH-IN-THE-HOUSE?")

--Chimney heat reclaiming devices or "flue heat exchangers" can effectively recover much of the heat lost up the chimney of an inefficient furnace. They becomes uneconomical and dangerous if not cleaned regularly and if your flue temperatures are already low because of a smaller nozzle and faster fan.

-- Ensure that after having sealed the house well you have provided enough air for easy combustion in the furnace. An air-starved furnace compensates by gobbling up oil.

Keywords: Boiler, Fuel, Furnace, Heating

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