"Pete C." wrote:

wrote:

Pete C. wrote:

In other words the oil furnace burns dirtier and pollutes more.

False. Modern oil and gas furnaces produce comparable amounts of
emissions. The exact composition is different, but the overall pollution
is the same (the EPA and DOE have studies that confirm this if you want
to look).

Now, I'd love to see the supporting data for the claim that modern gas
and oil furnaces produce the same amount of pollution. Why do you
think many cities have replaced diesel bus fleets with ones that run
natural gas if burning oil is just as clean? Natural gas produces only
water and CO2. And nat gas even produces a third less CO2 than
burning oil. Burning oil, in addition to the above, produces
particulates, nitrous oxide, and sulfates.

http://www.tevisoil.com/fuel/compare.asp
http://www.cecarf.org/Programs/Fuels...%209-12-03.pdf

Try looking at the EPA and DOE sites.

Ok. What pages on these sites should we look at?

The poster is right. First, you proclaim the smell produced by burning
oil to be a virtue, because it may save you from dying from CO. . Then
you claim oil heat is as clean as nat gas.

You don't read well do you? I indicated that both are not very
detectable when combustion adjustments are proper and neither produces
much CO under those conditions either. It is when combustion adjustments
are out of whack that a lot of CO is produced and it is also under those
abnormal conditions that oil exhaust is much more detectable than gas
exhaust.

Did you ever see an oil
based appliance of any kind vented into a home? Yet millions of nat
gas kitchen stoves work exactly that way. Gee, I wonder why?

Not for the reasons you apparently think.


A whopping total of 28 people a year die in the US from CO from natural
gas heat systems period. I'd like to see any real world evidence that
oil heat systems are any safer overall.

Indeed they are. CO is not the only way a nat. gas heating system can
kill you. Add in the number of deaths from gas explosions to the CO
deaths and then compare to oil. Then compare the number of injuries from
gas explosions to the number of injuries from oil explosions. Then tell
me which is safer.

What is the number of deaths from natural gas versus oil? Can you show us the numbers or is
this just a FUD campaign?



Nat gas continues to increase
in market share, while oil heat is now down to 4% of new homes. If
it's so unsafe and unreliable, why is that?

1) Consumer ignorance - Believing nat. gas somehow avoids buying foreign
energy. They apparently are not aware of the LNG super tankers
delivering foreign LNG just like oil tankers delivering foreign oil.
Both nat. gas and oil are produced in the US and both are also imported
from foreign sources.

The amount and proportion of natural gas that is imported to the USA is tiny compared to
oil. Much of the imported natural gas comes from right here in North America, not hostile
areas of the world like the Middle East.



2) Marketing - Some deceptive as in the case of the short lived "safe"
in one gas suppliers advertising.

Which supplier are you talking about? What is the definition of "safe?"

Deceptive price comparisons that do
not account for service charges during periods of no use. Deceptive
claims of reliability of oil fired equipment. Deceptive claims about the
cleanliness of oil burners. Deceptive comparisons of "upgrade" costs to
low end gas equipment with service lives in single digit years.

Service charges? Like the $4/month minimum billing fee that I pay for my natural gas
service? My electric company charges more than that so your argument is opposing electric
service too. Even including that fee (which includes service for my hot water heater, gas
grill, stove, and dryer) I'm still way ahead with gas, and I have a very efficient furnace
too.



I'll also note that that market share is rather slanted to southern
states whe

1) There are minimal heating requirements which means consumers can get
low end gas systems to last longer.

How so?


2) Gas companies cover larger service areas in large part due to lower
installation costs vs. the northern states with more rock to cut and
blast through.

Huh? What is your source of this claim?



3) Gas companies market more since they generate more profits from
service charges during the long hot months where they have to supply
minimal gas.

You said they are a monopoly. Why would they need to market? I hear a lot of advertising
by oil dealers, or the collective oil dealers, operating as one.

4) The southern states have been having a huge housing boom as a whole
due to lower construction costs and most tract housing gets gas systems
not because they are better in any way, but simply because the cheapest
low service life units available are in gas which means more profits for
the developers and replacement costs for the consumer a short time down
the road.

What are your numbers for your cost comparison?