Heating Oil Background
The history of heating oil would be too long to go into in just one article but there are highlights that can be looked at. People have been using petroleum for thousands of years. The fuel crisis in 16th Century England made heating oil become a more popular source of fuel although it is though it may have been used first by the Chinese. Before this most people were using coal and wood as their source of heat but once the industrial revolution came and cities grew, the demand grew and supplies began to dwindle.
Although there were some attempts to utilise whale and vegetable oil for light in the 18th century, they did not prove to be successful. It was during this century that an industrialist named George Bissel began to investigate the usefulness of rock oil as a potential fuel source. And the heating oil that we use today to heat our homes was evolved from this rock oil.
The first really successful coal oil was kerosene. Once people began drilling instead of digging for oil the use of this fuel increased dramatically. The first successful drilling operation occurred in 1859 in Pennsylvania in the United States. And oil became known as ‘black gold’ due to the huge demand for it. Even though some people continued to heat their homes with coal, they realised soon enough that heating oil was a more convenient source of fuel. Using coal meant having to shovel it and store it. There was much less work involved in using heating oil.
The oil burner first appeared in the 1920s and this was quickly followed by the arrival of the thermostat. This meant that everything that was needed for heating oil to become a source of fuel for the home was in place. Since then, the benefits of heating oil have been realised by more and more people.
Heating ones home in the cold months of winter can cost a fair packet. Gas and electricity are very expensive today, with no signs of prices coming down. Many individuals are now changing over to cheaper home heating oil though. And when this happens they have to ensure the tanks re always full of cheap heating oil ensuring they can always heat their home in winter.
