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Photograph of our oil fired heating boiler with Mikes CD book on how to save heating costsHome heating costs increased by poor service?

Impact on home heating costs of incomplete or hasty heating system service: review of book on the topic + helpful excerpts.

If your heating service technician is in a rush chances are your heating system is not running at its economical best.

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How Rising Oil Price and Rushed Heating Service Increase Heating Cost

It's the homeowner who pays the oil bill, not the service technician who tunes your boiler.

Even though most service techs take pride in their work and work to do a good job of cleaning and tuning the system, Mike found that often service techs were rushing through the process and leaving unsafe or unsatisfactory conditions.

There are several reasons for this, one of which is that the techs are usually over-scheduled and over-worked during the heating season.

A heating service technician during the winter months may be expected to make 8 or 12 service calls in a day. It's impossible to perform a thorough, detailed cleanout and tune-up in just a few minutes.

So sometimes the technician will see a system that seems to be pretty clean and running pretty well, and s/he will just do the basics of filter and nozzle change.

These Tips for Improving the Quality of Service of Your Heating System Will Save You Money

  1. Schedule your annual heating service call at the end of the heating season when your service technician is less busy, has less pressure of forcing too many urgent service calls into each day, and thus when she or he can take time to do a most through job.
  2. Pay extra if necessary to have a real heating system service job.

    For oil fired heating equipment that includes disassembly and vacuum-cleaning of the boiler or furnace, the "stack pipe" or flue vent connector, the oil filter, screen in the oil pump, oil burner nozzle replacement, cleaning the oil burner head, inspecting and cleaning the combustion chamber, inspecting and replacing parts that are at end of life and that may lead to loss of heat next winter, and finally, cleaning and adjustment of the system for optimum performance.
  3. If your service tech does not measure the smoke level, stack temperature, CO2 leve and draft, the system cannot be tuned to its optimum.
  4. If your oil fired heating system does not have its own barometric damper or draft regulator the system cannot be tuned for optimal performance.

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Citations & Reviewers

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

  • Domestic and Commercial Oil Burners, Charles H. Burkhardt, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York 3rd Ed 1969.
  • National Fuel Gas Code (Z223.1) $16.00 and National Fuel Gas Code Handbook (Z223.2) $47.00 American Gas Association (A.G.A.), 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209 also available from National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269. Fundamentals of Gas Appliance Venting and Ventilation, 1985, American Gas Association Laboratories, Engineering Services Department. American Gas Association, 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209. Catalog #XHO585. Reprinted 1989.
  • The Steam Book, 1984, Training and Education Department, Fluid Handling Division, ITT [probably out of print, possibly available from several home inspection supply companies] Fuel Oil and Oil Heat Magazine, October 1990, offers an update,
  • Principles of Steam Heating, $13.25 includes postage. Fuel oil & Oil Heat Magazine, 389 Passaic Ave., Fairfield, NJ 07004.
  • "Warm Air Heating Systems". Instructional Technologies Institute, Inc., 145 "D" Grassy Plain St., Bethel, CT 06801 800/227-1663 [home inspection training material] 1987
  • Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Volume I, Heating Fundamentals,
  • Installation Guide for Residential Hydronic Heating Systems
  • In addition to citations & references found in this article, see the research citations given at the end of the related articles found at our suggested

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