Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

Someone told me about this. They said they shut it off when they aren't home or aren't using it and it has saved them a ton of oil. They also have oil HW.

Is this safe??? Anyone else do this???

Thanks

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

I've never heard of turning it on and off like that. I know my co-worker shuts her's off in the warmer months since she only uses it for heat so it's off for about 5 months out of teh year.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

We use it for the water heater and for heat. It's never turned off. I don't see the point unless you want no heat and not hot water when you come home and busted pipes in the middle of winter.

Regardless of the season, it's used to heat the water.

Message edited 9/13/2008 8:04:12 AM.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

My dad does this- he is a nut about saving oil. I hated it when I was a kid because you had to turn it back on before showering to get the water to heat up.

It is the norm for his house in the warm weather months. Oh, and he runs around the house at night in the winter turning all the thermostats down.

Not sure if it's bad for your burner or not- I assume a burner company would tell you not to do it, and his is always getting sludge clogs- but it's an old burner, so that could be why...

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

No. Being it heats up my hot water I can't see the point of turning it off.
Growing up we had an electric HW heater & of course the burner was off in the summer months.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

We just got ours replaced. We heard from multiple places that you shouldn't turn them off because the drastic changes in temperature from turning it on and off will ruin the seals and gaskets in the boiler. That will of course later cause issues that wil need repair. It makes sense because the heat/cold will cause things to shrink/expand and eventual cracking.

This whole summer we've used about 10 gallons having it on, just having it maintain its internal temperature; so that's not wasting much oil at all.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

I was told by the professionals to NEVER turn it off...... It's really bad for it to be turned on and off... We barely used any oil this summer......

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

I have never heard of anyone shutting that off.

what if the pipes freeze in the winter? not worth the potential damage IMO

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

We do and we were told its fine by Petro and have never had a problem either. When we need to take a shower we turn it on and it heats in literally 2 minutes, no big deal!
In the winter no it stays on but summer months there is absolutely NO reason to have the AC and the boiler on at the same time!
We have not had to change any filters/gaskets like someone has mentioned.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

just to add to what other people have said... I wonder which uses more energy: keeping the water temp constant 120 or heating up cold water to 120?

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

we turn it off when we go away, then again DH shuts the water down too.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

We turned it off for the first time this summer and it has been fine. My brother does heating/ac and he reassured us it was fine. We have an electric hot water heater so that takes care of showers/laundry/dishwasher. DH will turn it back on when it gets colder and we need the heat!

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

Our oil burner is located in a room adjacent to the garage, so it's not exactly easy to go turn it on and off.

We leave it on all summer, so I have hot water for washing dishes, laundry and the shower.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

No I wouldn't turn it off.

I am only averaging 1 gallon of oil usage a month during the summer anyways (compared to 3-4 gallons per day in the winter).

How much am I really going to save?

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

I suppose I would be the perfect candidate to turn it off. My house uses gas to heat the hot water heater.

It never occurred to me to shut it off. I've heard the burner go on twice this whole summer. My oil tank has been in the exact same spot - 1/2 tank - for months.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

We only use oil for heat, so it's turned off when the weather gets warner out. It's been shut off since mid-April and will be turned back on mid-November or so.

We have gas for cooking, hot water and our dryer, so there's no need for the burner to be on when we don't need it to be.

Re: Does anyone shut their oil burner off when they are not using it?

I lived like this growing up & it was a PIA...Whenever you wanted to take a shower, you had to turn the burner back on & wait for it to warm up. It was annoying.

In our house, the old system we had, we were able to shut down the burner in the summer months since it was a separate connection to the hot water tank. When we changed the system over, we got a more efficient unit that allows the burner to run both winter & summer to control the hot water along with the heat. When you are not running the heat, the burner is not using much oil to really heat the hot water.

We only turn the burner off if we are gonig away for an extended period of time over the summer. In the winter, it is always left on.