Not many homes in towns and cities use boilers powered by heater oil to fuel their central heating nowadays – with almost every home wired up to the national grid and gas mains, using a large tank of oil to warm the house seems a bit outdated. Even people who live in more remote rural areas and may not have access to these conveniences have a wealth of new technology and alternative power sources to choose from. Wouldn’t it be better to set up one of these ‘green’ power generators that run on wind, water or solar power than commit to using expensive and wasteful oil which needs to be regularly replaced?
So does oil still have value as a source for central heating despite the much discussed issues of cost and environmental issues? Oil is not cheap after all, and it is in short supply. If we care about our environment shouldn’t we make sure we’re using power that is less pollutant and wasteful?
But like so many other things in life, it’s not quite so simple. We want our central heating to be reliable and constant, and the main problem with environmentally friendly power sources is that they are new and relatively untested. An oil boiler is more reliable, and doesn’t depend on certain weather conditions to perform – as long as the oil supply doesn’t run out and the boiler is serviced regularly as should be the case with any boiler, it will last a long time.
They might seem old fashioned and relatively expensive, but oil boilers definitely still have a place as a heating source, especially those who live in areas that otherwise don’t have the convenience found in cities. They can be expensive to run because of the need to refill the tank regularly, but communities can order heating oil as a group and receive discounts for bulk buying
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