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Oilheat Is Safe
Oil,
gas, and electric heat all have commendable safety
records when the equipment is installed properly and
maintained regularly. However, when heating
units malfunction, safety hazards can occur. Should that
situation arise, Oilheat offers important safety
advantages:
Heating oil
is non-explosive. If a heating oil leak should occur, it
is not an explosive hazard. When natural gas or propane
leaks, an explosive mixture of air and fuel forms
rapidly. Heating oil will not burn in a liquid state. If
you were to place a lit match into a vial of heating oil,
the match would be extinguished because heating oil in
liquid form is well below it's flash point of 140 degrees
F, the temperature at which it begins to vaporize in
order to fire inside a burner. By contrast, natural gas
and propane will burst into flames when mixed with air if
a match is struck in their presence.
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A
Special Home Safety Message: The risk of exposure to
dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO) is
substantially less with Oilheat than with natural gas,
propane, or wood heat. Carbon monoxide cannot be
detected by one's senses, but prolonged exposure to can
cause injury and even death. Properly set and
maintained oil and gas burners produce very low, safe
levels of CO as a normal part of the combustion
process. But should there be a malfunction, oil heat is
the safer fuel. In the unlikely event an oil burner
malfunctions due to air restriction, smoke occurs
before appreciable amounts of CO develop. This serves
as a warning signal. When gas burners malfunction, they
produce potentially dangerous levels of CO first, then
smoke. It is difficult to tell that a gasburner is
creating CO simply by looking at it. A high CO reading
is often due to vent blockage, flue pipe damage, heat
exchanger cracks, and/or restricted air supply into the
house. Homeowners should periodically have heaters and
gas appliances inspected and tested for carbon monoxide
levels and proper venting. All homes should have smoke
and CO detectors.
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