Learn how your heating system works.

Ever wonder what exactly is going on when you turn up your thermostat or when you hear your furnace kick on?  When heating with oil, your home will be equipped with one of these three systems:  Forced hot water, by means of baseboard, steam which utilizes radiators, or warm air which would be blown through vents. The thermostat works by sensing when the room temperature falls below the set temperature. Once that happens a signal  will be sent to your heating system to turn on.  Once engaged, oil travels from your tank into the burner.  As the fuel and air mixture is injected into your burner it is then ignited in the combustion chamber.  For heating that uses water, there will be either a cast iron or steel boiler where the water is heated.  From there it will be circulated through your baseboards or, in the steam system, heated up and turned into steam to then go through your radiators.  With warm air, instead of heating water, your furnace simply heats air which is then dispersed through your home by means of a blower.  Your chimney is the last step of this process.  Emissions caused from the  combustion process is then emitted through a flue vent right out your chimney.   Keep in mind that with today's ultra low sulfur fuel oil we are leaving a smaller footprint than ever before all while efficiently and cost effectively heating our homes.  

Source: www.petro.com