If you have an oil-driven furnace, you may be interested in just how much oil it consumes. The oil usage of your furnace can not be easily translated into units of time and federal and state standards concern BTUs, not oil. Does this Spark an idea?
Standards
There are national energy efficiency standards that apply to the heat output of residential furnaces and boilers. The first act, the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act, was passed in 1987. The content and coverage of this initial legislation has been expanded upon and modified since with new publications issued in 2004 and 2006.
Conversion
The standards do not directly address the hourly use of oil; instead, they address the heat input rate which is measured in BTUs. It is relatively easy to convert the BTUs into the amount of your oil per gallon. BTUs per gallon of oil is around 140,000. The national energy standard for residential furnaces is no more than 225, 000 BTUs per hour making your oil usage per hour approximately 1.6 gallons.
Considerations
Remember that your furnace should never run for a full hour nonstop; it comes on intermittently as the internal temperatures are relayed from the thermostats in your house. Their reports can be affected by the space in different rooms as well as the positions of thermostats themselves. As a result, amount of oil per hour is not an entirely accurate reflection of heating function or cost.
Tags: national energy, residential furnaces, your furnace
