Popular Fuel Types That You Can Use To Heat Your Home

Posted on: 21 March 2016

If you are having problems with your current heating system, then you might be thinking about getting a replacement. However, before you go out and simply replace your current heater, you might want to consider switching to an entirely different type of fuel. There are many different types of fuel that are used in residential heating, with each offering a different set of benefits. To help you decide if one of those options stands out to you as the clearly best choice, here are some brief overviews of each type:

Electric

Heating your home with electricity is one of the easiest options, simply because it takes advantage of resources that you already have. The electricity will be run through a number of resistors, which will translate almost all of that energy into heat waste. However, this heat waste is actually the desired product, since your plan is to heat up your home. The exact price of electric heating will vary depending on how much you pay for electricity, which can easily be checked by asking your utility provider.

Propane

Propane is a bit harder to use, but is still manageable. You will need to go out and buy containers of propane, each of which can last you a long period of time. This will protect you from outages in electricity, but the biggest drawback is that propane can be much less cost efficient than other options. However, this might not be the case if you live somewhere that is particularly remote.

Heating Oil

As with propane, you will need to buy containers of oil and find somewhere to store them. Heating oil will cost you about the same as propane, but will be a little less efficient as far as space is concerned. This means that a container of heating oil isn't going to last you as long as a container of propane that is roughly the same size. On the other hand, oil is also a lot more stable than propane since it is naturally a liquid at room temperature. This means that you don't need to be as careful when it comes to storing heating oil, even though you should still be very mindful of any potential fire hazards.

Heating Pellets

Pellets are essentially made of recycled goods, which means that they are desirable if you are looking to reduce your impact on the environment. On top of that, they burn cleanly relative to other materials, which means that you will generate a lot less waste by using heating pellets than you would by burning propane or heating oil.

Solar Heating

For a more expensive way to less your environmental footprint, you could install solar panels on your property. This can be a great idea if you get a lot of sunlight, but a very poor idea if you live somewhere that gets a lot of hail or has high winds. Either of those environmental factors can damage your solar panels, forcing you to pay for very expensive repairs if you want to restore their functionality.

Steam

Steam is also an option for heating your home, and works primarily by expanding your water heater. The general idea is that water can be circulated throughout your home to distribute a lot of heat. This does eliminate the need for a comprehensive ventilation system as far as heating is concerned, which can be very helpful if you live in an area that doesn't require air conditioning at any point in the year.

For HVAC contractors, contact a business such as Pell City Heating & Cooling Inc.

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