Does my oil burner use that much more electricity than my Santa Fe?

[Jp16]

We received our electricity bill Saturday. To our surprise it was very low. We only used 450 kW. This is more than half of last February. The only thing I can say is different is the pellet stove. Oh, BTW, we got oil today, 109.3 gallons. Our typical February fill is 200 +\- gallons. At $3.999 a gallon though it still stings a little but not as bad as it could have been...

 

[Bioburner]

Lot bigger fan and a oil pump to run.

 

[wsar10]

when you boiler is running IIRC the ignition transformer is 10,000v @ 23mA which is 230 watts. this is not considering, thermostat transformer (very small draw), burner motor and circulatory motors.....there is no fan motor if its a boiler.

 

[hyfire]

when you boiler is running IIRC the ignition transformer is 10,000v @ 23mA which is 230 watts. this is not considering, thermostat transformer (very small draw), burner motor and circulatory motors.....there is no fan motor if its a boiler.

If its a normal oil furnace I think the burner motor is at least 4-5 amps, the furnace blower motor would also be 4-5 amps, plus the ignition and oil pump, as you mentioned, it could be 10-12 amps running

 

[hoverfly]

Yeah a oil burner pulls a bit of juice. So there is an additional savings for yeah.

 

[rwthomas1]

Good deal! Now the trick is to crank up the pellet stove and make the March oil fill about 50gallons....

 

[heat seeker]

The ignition transformer usually runs for about a minute or less on each startup.

 

[wsar10]

The ignition transformer usually runs for about a minute or less on each startup.

your ignition transformer on an oil burner is a constant duty cycle.

 

[Bioburner]

Think of it as a stun gun arc that keeps the fuel ignited.

 

[hoverfly]

The ignition transformer usually runs for about a minute or less on each startup.

It actually depends, they can either be on continuous cycle or interrupted cycle. It all depends on how much you pay for the controller and what comes with the system. In some cases using a continuous ignition is used to deal with cold fuel to keep the flame from going out. I been in basements that are colder than it was out side and the owner refused to pay for K1.

 

[hoverfly]

your ignition transformer on an oil burner is a constant duty cycle.

Again, It actually depends, they can either be on continuous cycle or interrupted cycle. It all depends on how much you pay for the controller and what comes with the system. In some cases using a continuous ignition is used to deal with cold fuel to keep the flame from going out. I been in basements that are colder than it was out side and the owner refused to pay for K1.

 

[wsar10]

maybe its a regional thing or depends on demographic.......
I was in the plumbing and heating industry for over ten years and NEVER worked on an OIL boiler with an ignition transformer that had any type of duty cycle rather than 100%. That being said I have only ever installed 5 brand new OIL boilers ever (everybody here in PA goes to NG when they replace a furnace or boiler) although I have probably serviced 100's maybe 1000's of oil burners.

and again to the above there are only 2 motors (depending on number of circulators) on a normal residential boiler, the burner motor and circulator. The burner motor IS your oil pump and air.

 

[hoverfly]

Yeah it's fairly new to the U.S. in the last ten years but in Europe it's common feature to increase efficiency.

(broken link removed to http://www.beckettcorp.com/product2/productdetail.asp?detailid=29)

 

[wsar10]

interesting,
does this require a proprietary cad cell and cad cell relay ?
whats the price point ?

Around here people have been yanking oil burners out and replacing them with NG (for obvious reasons) therefore I never got to really keep up with oil fired technology's and advancements. I have wound my business down to zero over the last 2 years, So I dont keep up with trade shows anymore. Family is growing and full-time job takes good care of me so I gave up the 3AM "no heat" calls and paper work till mid-night

 

[Jp16]

I guess I never added up all the draw on the oil burner. Four circ pumps, Indirect hot water, and 3 heat zones (1 pump for a basement zone just added this summer), the controller a TekMar TN4, and the gun. So even at 10 amps, thats 1.2 kw/hour, if my math is right. Over the course of a month it adds up.... ~ 10 hours a day @ 1.2 kw * 28 days = 336 kw. It hardly runs at all now maybe an hour or 2 (if even that) a day for hot water.

According to my fill history, I am guessing I will get filled again in June or July maybe August if they take into account the low fill the other day.

I never thought I would be saving electricty too. An added bonus that should be considered when installing a pellet burner.

 

[hoverfly]

interesting,
does this require a proprietary cad cell and cad cell relay ?
whats the price point ?

Around here people have been yanking oil burners out and replacing them with NG (for obvious reasons) therefore I never got to really keep up with oil fired technology's and advancements. I have wound my business down to zero over the last 2 years, So I dont keep up with trade shows anymore. Family is growing and full-time job takes good care of me so I gave up the 3AM "no heat" calls and paper work till mid-night

Last I knew they cost a lot more and are on the more upper end systems, I mean my Miller furnace was not that fancy. last I knew the cad cell eye is generic in regards to flame retention heads, with the exception of Rellio burners. I stopped HVAC work some time ago as it sucked to be doing no heat calls and customer service was not for me.