Winter’s Here – Time To Fire Up Your Fuel Oil Furnace
Winter’s here – Time to Fire Up your Fuel Oil Furnace
The fuel oil furnace in the basement used to only be the stuff of old scary horror movies. Everybody has at some point in their lives seen a movie where everything that’s scary happens down in the basement. First the creaking noise of the door leading down to the basement, and then the stairs leading downward into the dark where a monster lives, living and breathing. That unmistakable sound that only one thing in the basement makes. Yes we’re talking about the good old fuel oil furnace.
Regardless of what our general impressions are with regards to the fuel oil furnace, in countries that get really cold that might very well be the most important item in the whole house. Real cold is virtually unbearable, luckily for a bit of respite from the cold we have fuel oil furnaces. Nothing makes a home more pleasant than warmth and comfort. Warmth helps in that you can turn your attention to more important things in life, besides keeping your body temperature up..
Even if you’ve never really spent any time thinking about how fuel oil furnaces work, don’t worry it’s not a monster. Sure it’s alive living and breathing but only when it’s switched on. As with any appliance that uses fire to generate heat for whatever purpose be it a boiler or a gas stove a healthy level of respect is necessary when troubleshooting or using this appliance, and the same goes for repair.
When it comes down to it a fuel oil furnace is a device that uses flame to burn oil in the burner then the flame and heat enters a chamber with a heat exchanger that conducts the resulting heat to a surface area on the heat exchanger. Cold air is drawn in through a filter from the duct work and then through a blower that forces the cold air over the heat exchanger that in turn warms the air after which it passes into the duct work that extends through the structure or house to heat it. This cycle repeats itself until the temperature that has been set on the thermostat has been reached. At this point the power to the circuit is cut and the whole heating process is stopped until such time that the temperature drops below the thermostat setting.
So be the brave one this winter to go down to the basement to check on the fuel oil furnace. Links to sites for more information on troubleshooting and repair are available online. However if you are not confident that you have enough knowledge about what to do or how to go about it don’t hesitate for a moment to call in a professional to ensure you’re not caught by the cold this winter.
