Does Heating Oil Freeze?

How to keep your fuel from gelling

It is no secret that all sorts of things freeze during the winter here in southeastern Massachusetts. This applies to water, pipes and plant life. Curious to know if the same applies to your home’s heating oil? W.H. Riley & Son can help you figure this out.

What happens to heating oil when it gets cold?

The good news is that heating oil does not freeze so you can rest easy on that front. However, it can turn to gel and any homeowner who uses heating oil to heat his or her home definitely wants to avoid this at all costs.

If exposed to extremely cold temperatures (we’re talking about 16° Fahrenheit) heating oil can thicken and turn into a waxy sludge type of material. This process is often referred to as gelling and this can be damaging for your home heating system.

When heating oil gels, your fuel lines may then not have enough room for fuel that is actually burnable within your tank. This impacts your heating equipment’s ability to work effectively. Gelling can also cause your fuel lines to become blocked and that can be truly detrimental to a heating system.

Preventing gelling is part of taking care of and maintaining your heating system. A professional service can insulate your heating oil tank, add anti-gel additives to your fuel and protect your fuel lines from extreme temperatures – all of which will protect your heating oil from turning into gel and, in turn, keep your heating system up and running. At W.H. Riley & Son, we treat all of our heating oil with our HEATDOC™ proprietary fuel conditioner to ensure further efficiency and cleanliness. This prevents sediment from building up in your oil tank, pipes, fuel lines and filters, helping improve your heating system’s efficiency and extending equipment life. We also add a more concentrated amount for outdoor tanks. Thus, gelling is one less thing you’ll need to worry about if you get your heating oil from us.

How else can you care for your heating system

While protecting from gelling is an important preventative measure for your home heating system there are additional items you should be checking off your list as winter approaches.

You are certainly going to want to make sure that you don’t run out of heating oil entirely. Therefore, you should keep tabs on your supply and have a good idea of how much fuel you have left at all times. You can do this by reading your tank’s gauge from time to time. When you notice that your tank is about a quarter full you should contact your supplier for more fuel. This should give you enough time to place an order and schedule your next delivery without having to worry about running out of heating oil entirely.

You can also sign up for W.H. Riley’s Automatic Delivery plan. This option eliminates the need for you to track your fuel levels yourself.

How to properly prepare for your next heating oil delivery

When it is time for your next heating oil delivery here are some general tips to keep in mind that will help your delivery go smoothly:

• Clear your driveway so that it is easily accessible to the drivers who are delivering your fuel. This includes shoveling snow, salting ice and removing anything like other cars or toys.
• Stay reachable on your delivery day in case the driver needs to get in contact with you.
• If you keep your heating oil tank behind a gate, make sure this gate is unlocked.
• Clear a path to your fill pipe or fill vent.
• Keep any pets indoors.

Heating oil from W.H. Riley & Son

If you need heating oil for your southeastern Massachusetts home know that you can count on W.H. Riley & Son. We can deliver high quality, clean-burning fuel directly to your door.

Contact W.H. Riley if you are looking for a full-service heating oil provider in the area.