Oil boiler - this is how heating your home with an oil-fired boiler works

Every year, the oil boiler becomes more and more antique in today's modern and environmentally conscious society. During the post-war period and until the 1980s, the oil boiler was used extensively to heat properties and households. But since then, more and more people have chosen to abandon this relic to a heat source and instead switch to both cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as pellets, heat pumps, and solar energy.

Oil boilers are mainly used to heat homes. Today you will find them mainly in older houses. When rebuilding or renovating, most people choose to install another system.

Heating with oil as fuel

If we look 50-60 years back in time, heating with oil was the most common source of heat for heating houses, as well as wood. In the past, the oil price was much cheaper. But since the oil crisis in the 1970s, prices have risen more and more. In addition to this factor, the great popularity of oil also had to do with the great energy recovery that combustion provided. But also the fact that the oil boiler was a relatively maintenance-free heating system and very proven.

Oil boilers and heat recovery from the combustion of oil are strongly questioned today from an environmental perspective. This is due to its high carbon dioxide emissions.

A survey conducted by the Swedish Pellets' Association states that in the country's approximately two million villas, there were only 40,000 oil boilers left in 2016. Despite the lack of figures for recent years, it can most likely be assumed that the number of oil boilers has continued to decrease.

According to Svenska Petroleum andamp; Biomedel Institutet (SPBi), 941,246 m3 of heating oil was delivered to the Swedish heating market in 2016. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's climate calculation, the climate impact of this oil corresponds to almost 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Which in turn corresponds to just over 5% of the country's total emissions.

For this reason, the combustion of biofuels like pellets is preferable when heating homes. An alternative is to buy a pellet boiler, pellet stove, or warm air stove from Ulma.