Saving Money on Energy – The Importance of Regular Maintenance for Your Oil Burner

If you heat your home with oil, you have probably already noticed a marked increase in your energy costs. With oil only expected to rise further, now is the perfect time to make your oil burner more efficient. Taking some time to clean and maintain your oil burner now can save you hundreds of dollars when the cold nights of winter roll around again.

Spring is the perfect time to have your oil burner cleaned, serviced and maintained. The companies that work on oil burners and home heating systems are typically busiest in the winter, when they must deal with emergencies and fix broken heaters. As winter turns to spring, their volume of work typically goes down, allowing the technicians more time to work with your heating system and recommend ways t make it more efficient.

In many cases, all an oil burner needs to be more efficient is a good cleaning. When you purchased your oil burner new, the unit no doubt came with a recommended maintenance schedule, but over time many homeowners tend to neglect that regular service. If you cannot remember the last time you cleaned your oil burner or replaced the filter, chances are the unit is due for some much needed maintenance.

Regular maintenance is important for all your home appliances, but it can be even more critical for your oil burner. Over time, soot accumulates inside the unit, and there is nothing you can do to avoid that accumulation. Once the soot has built up, it tends to act as insulation, which in turn reduces the efficiency of the oil burner and the amount of heat it puts out. That lower efficiency means that it takes more gallons of fuel to maintain your home at the proper temperature, and that in turn means more dollars out of your wallet.

Having your oil burner professionally cleaned and serviced is the best way to deal with the inevitable accumulation of soot and the resulting loss of efficiency. Many homeowners resist having their oil burners professionally cleaned because they fear it will be too expensive, but in the long run the fuel savings alone more than make up for the initial investment.

Just consider that it typically costs around $200 to have your oil burner professionally cleaned and serviced. Once the service is done and the unit is again operating at peak efficiency, you can expect to save up to wo gallons of heating oil in a single year. If the price of heating oil is $2 a gallon that means you would save up to $400 in the first year alone. As the price of fuel goes up, the investment you made in a clean oil burner will look even smarter. With the high price of energy, you simply cannot afford to have any of your appliances running at less than peak efficiency.