Heating oil

Heating oil, or oil heat, also known in the United States as No. 2 heating oil, is a low viscosity, flammable liquid petroleum product used to fuel building furnaces or boilers. Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a Fluid which is being deformed by either Shear stress or Extensional stress. Flammability is the ease with which a substance will ignite causing Fire or Combustion. Fuel is any material that is burned or altered in order to obtain energy A furnace is a device used for Heating The name derives from Latin fornax, Oven. A boiler is a closed vessel in which Water or other Fluid is heated In the U. S. it must conform to ASTM standard D396. Diesel and kerosene, while often confused as being similar or identical, must conform to their own respective ASTM standards.

Heating oil is commonly delivered by tank truck to residential, commercial and municipal buildings and stored in above-ground storage tanks ("ASTs") located in the basement, garage, or outside adjacent to the building. A tank truck ( United States usage or tanker lorry ( United Kingdom usage is a Motor vehicle designed to carry liquefied loads, A township (or Municipality) is a settlement which has the status and powers of a unit of local government It is sometimes stored in underground storage tanks (or "USTs"), but less often than ASTs. ASTs are used for smaller installations due to the lower cost factor. Heating oil is less commonly used as an industrial fuel or for power generation.

Heating oil is widely used in parts of the U. S. and Canada where natural gas or propane is frequently not available. Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, Propane is a three- Carbon Alkane, normally a gas but compressible to a liquid that is transportable Where other fuels are not available, it is sometimes referred to as the unit cost per unit (BTU=British Themal Unit or BTUH / h per hour), and can be less than other fuels. Boiler and "forced air" furnace manufacturers have perfected "retention head oil-fired burners" and "triple-pass flue" boilers that have increased theoretical oil burner efficiency to over 93%. To reach that level of efficiency however, would require a lower flue gas temperature that most oil burners cannot produce . Therefore causing condensation that most oil-fired furnaces cannot handle without damage to the heat exchanger, venting pipes or outside casing of the appliance . Practical efficiency is typically around 86%.

Red dyes are usually added, resulting in its "red diesel" name in countries like United Kingdom. Solvent Yellow 124 is added as a "Euromarker" since 2002 in European Union. Solvent Yellow 124 is a yellow Azo dye used in European Union as a Fuel dye.

Heating oil is very similar to diesel fuel, and both are classified as distillates. It consists of a mixture of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons in the 14- to 20-carbon atom range. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit In Organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an Organic compound consisting entirely of Hydrogen and Carbon. That is, heating oil's chemical formula is usually either C₁₄H₃₀, C₁₅H₃₂, C₁₆H₃₄, C₁₇H₃₆, C₁₈H₃₈, C₁₉H₄₀, or C₂₀H₄₂. During oil distillation, it condenses at between 250 °C and 350 °C. Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts or fractions such as in separating Chemical compounds by their Boiling point by heating Heating oil condenses at a lower temperature than the heavy (C20+) hydrocarbons such as petroleum jelly, bitumen, candle wax, and lubricating oil, which condense between 340 °C and 400 °C. Petroleum jelly, petrolatum or soft paraffin is a Semi-solid mixture of Hydrocarbons (with Carbon numbers mainly higher than 25 Bitumen is a mixture of organic Liquids that are highly Viscous, black sticky entirely soluble in Carbon disulfide, and composed primarily Mineral oil or liquid Petroleum is a By-product in the Distillation of Petroleum to produce Gasoline and other petroleum But it condenses at a higher temperature than kerosene, which condenses between 160 °C and 250 °C. Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage is a Combustible Hydrocarbon liquid

For efficient burning, the oil is drawn/pulled from the tank into a pump and pressurized (residential) to 100-140 psi and then forced through a filtered (specific to appliance) nozzle, into an "atomized" spray pattern . It is then ignited through the use of a "step-up" transformer . Taking 120 volts(AC) and stepping it up to 10,000 volts . The voltage travels down two brass conductors (buzz bars) to the metal/ceramic electrodes and produces a spark approximately 1/4 inches across . With the airflow coming from the "squirrel cage" of the oil-burner, the spark ignites the oil droplets . Through the use of a "combustion chamber", the flame is contained, and "flue gases" travels through the "heat exchanger" . The heat of the flue gases is transferred through the walls of the heat exchanger as they pass to the chimney, and the fan/blower unit circulates the heat of the heat exchanger throughout the house . With a cold air return generally in the center of the house supplying all or most of the cold air that is return to the furnace for re-heating .

Heating oil produces 138,500 BTU per gallon and weighs 7. 2 pounds per imperial gallon (0. 72 kg/l), which is about the same heat per unit mass as the somewhat less dense diesel fuel. Number 2 fuel oil has a flash point of 52 °C. The flash point of a flammable liquid is the lowest Temperature at which it can form an ignitable mixture in air

Leaks from tanks and piping are an environmental concern. See also Nature The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a terminology that is comprised of all living and Various federal and state regulations are in place regarding the proper transportation, storage and burning of heating oil, which is classified as a hazardous material (HazMat) by federal regulators.

Heating oil may be blended with biofuel to create a product similar to biodiesel known as "bioheat". Biodiesel refers to a non-petroleum-based Diesel fuel consisting of short chain Alkyl ( Methyl or ethyl) Esters made by Bioheat is a blend of Biofuel and Heating oil (or No 2 Fuel Oil for off-road non-taxable heating applications

Heating oil trade

Heating oil accounts for about 25% of the yield of a barrel of crude oil, the second largest "cut" after gasoline (petrol). Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit The heating oil futures contract trades in units of 42,000 U. In Finance, a futures contract is a standardized Contract, traded on a Futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain Underlying instrument S. gallons (1,000 barrels) and (for the USA) is based on delivery in the New York harbor. A gallon is a measure of Volume. It is in current use in the United States and still has limited use in many other English-speaking countries New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Options on futures, calendar spread options contracts, crack spread options contracts, and average price options contracts give market participants even greater flexibility in managing price risk. Options are financial instruments that convey the right but not the obligation to engage in a future transaction on some Underlying security, or in a Futures An option contract is defined as "a promise which meets the requirements for the formation of a Contract and limits the promisor's power to revoke an offer Crack spread is a term used in the Oil industry and futures trading for the differential between the price of Crude oil and Petroleum products

The heating oil futures contract is also used to hedge diesel fuel and jet fuel, both of which trade in the cash market at an often stable premium to NYMEX Division New York Harbor heating oil futures. In Finance, a hedge is an investment that is taken out specifically to reduce or cancel out the Risk in another investment Jet fuel is a type of Aviation fuel designed for use in Aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX is the World 's largest physical Commodity Futures exchange, located in New York City. New York Harbor, a geographic term refers collectively to the rivers bays and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City

Dictionary

-noun

A petroleum product used as fuel in a heating system, that does not require preheating for use.

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