Wilson Oil and Propane

Propane Vs. Electric Appliances One of the biggest trends in home energy today is the aggressive government push for conversions to electric heat — at the expense of proven heating fuels like propane. The argument is that these electric conversions will reduce a home’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But this logic doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Right now, energy from our electric grid is far from clean. In 2021, the combustion of fossil fuels like natural gas and coal for electricity generation was the nation’s second-largest source of CO2 emissions . And in Pennsylvania, more than 60% of the electricity generated is still sourced from coal and natural gas . So how clean is propane? For starters, when you use propane appliances instead of electric ones, you’re relying on a fuel that produces far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than using an equivalent amount of electricity generated from the grid. Just as important in the propane vs. electricity debate is the topic of energy effic...

What You Should Know Before Switching With advanced technology making heat pumps a more viable option in cold climates like ours—combined with generous rebate programs and federal tax credits— it’s no surprise that interest in heat pumps continues to increase. How Do Heat Pumps Work? A heat pump runs on electricity and can either heat or cool a space. In traditional heat pump system, there is an indoor unit called an air handler and a unit similar to a central air conditioner installed outside. An outdoor compressor moves refrigerant inside and outside between these two units, absorbing or releasing heat. When it’s cold outside, a heat pump extracts outside heat from the ground and moves it indoors through your ductwork When it’s hot outside, the process is reversed, and the heat pump performs like an air conditioner, moving heat from indoors outside. How a Ductless Mini-Split Heat Pump System Works Instead of whole-house heating and cooling, ductless heat pump systems give ...

Fleet Trucks, Vans, School Buses and Many More At Wilson Oil and Propane, we believe in propane autogas so strongly that we run the majority of our vehicle fleet on propane autogas . As you may know, propane autogas describes propane when it is used as a fuel for vehicles. Propane autogas is the world’s most popular alternative fuel, which is defined as any product that bypasses the two big traditional petroleum fuels: gasoline and diesel By relying on propane autogas, we have already displaced tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, which produce far more emissions than propane autogas. We also help local businesses be more eco-friendly by setting them up with a propane autogas dispensing station on their property, or scheduling regular on-site fueling by our delivery trucks. According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, 60% of alternative-fuel vehicles nationwide now run on propane, from school buses to vans and fleet trucks to forklifts, lawnmowers and farm t...

Follow These 3 Simple Steps If you’ve already invested in a whole-house backup propane generator , you always want to make sure it will operate properly whenever the power goes out. Please follow these tips to ensure you’re prepared for the next power outage. Check your fuel gauge. Make sure your generator has enough propane to get you through at least a week without power, since impassable roads and other emergencies may delay deliveries. How much is enough? As one example, a whole-house 22-kilowatt (kW) generator would burn between 2-3 gallons per hour, depending on the electrical load. Test your generator. Take your generator for a 20-to30 minute “test run” about once every three months. Power it up to a full load and observe—and then have corrected—any problems. In colder months, increase the frequency of test runs to about per month to keep moving parts lubricated. Follow maintenance guidelines. Preventative maintenance is the key to keeping your generator running at its b...

Air Conditioning Preventative Maintenance Makes a Difference! While early spring normally is too chilly to begin doing cooling tune-ups for our customers, there’s nothing wrong with booking your preventive maintenance service in advance so you can beat the warm weather rush. While the minimum outdoor temperature varies between models, it usually needs to be in the 60°F range before we start going out to do tune-ups. That’s because parts of your air conditioning system—including the refrigerant—are not designed to work below a certain temperature. How Important Is Annual A/C Maintenance? After a long hibernation over the fall and winter, your cooling system needs some attention so it can keep you cool all summer long without problems. That’s just one reason why maintenance is important. Manufacturers require annual maintenance to keep your warranty valid. It’s that crucial! A properly maintained central air conditioning system will have fewer breakdowns than one that has been negle...

What Propane Appliances Can I Use in My Home? Propane is an ideal option to power homes in the Delaware Valley. It’s a clean-burning, versatile and highly efficient fuel that provides a long list of benefits for homeowners. Many people, however, may choose an all-electric home because they view it as the “cleanest” energy choice. But, unless your electricity is completely generated from a renewable source like wind, solar, or hydropower (instead of coal or natural gas), that’s simply not true. Read about propane and the environment . After you let your home builder know that you prefer an all-propane home, Propane professionals can install properly sized propane storage tanks and then connect multiple propane gas appliances. Storage tanks can be placed aboveground or buried underground, and large community propane systems can even be designed to fuel an entire development. Propane also provides jobsite flexibility by providing energy for portable generators and temporary heaters wh...

Annual Maintenance Is a Vital Service You wouldn’t drive an entire year without taking your car to a trusted mechanic to change the oil and perform a safety and maintenance check, would you? If you did, the risk of your car breaking down and leaving you stuck with a high repair bill would increase dramatically. Just like your car, a home’s heating and central air conditioning equipment has a range of electrical and mechanical components that can wear down or break if you don’t follow your equipment manufacturer’s maintenance recommendations. The manufacturer can also void your warranty if you are negligent with equipment maintenance. Ideally, a heating and central air conditioning system should both be serviced once a year to ensure your HVAC equipment is operating safely and efficiently. Benefits of Annual HVAC Maintenance Getting yearly tune-ups on both your heating and cooling system is the most important thing you can do to ensure your equipment runs as efficiently as possi...

Increase Your Knowledge About Oil Tanks Here are answers to some of the common questions we get about heating oil tanks. Q: How Long Do Heating Oil Tanks Last? Heating oil tanks can last for decades, but like anything else, they eventually need to be replaced. Life spans vary depending on the humidity in the environment, the thickness of the tank’s wall and other factors. When tanks do fail, it’s hard to see it coming, because they generally erode from the inside out. That’s why it’s a good idea to have them inspected periodically since cleaning up a tank leak can be incredibly expensive. We also recommend that you speak to us about our ProGuard® Tank Protection . This is available for both underground and aboveground tanks. If your oil tank is more than 30 years old, it’s a good idea to look into your heating oil tank replacement options. How Can I Tell If My Oil Tank Is Wearing Out? Besides getting periodic professional tank inspections, you should also do your own visual...

The Gold Standard for Removing Airborne Particles One of the most effective products used to improve indoor air quality today is the high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. HEPA filters, which are considered the gold standard for removing airborne particles like dust, pollen and bacteria, are highly recommended for anyone who suffers from allergies or respiratory ailments like asthma. These highly effective air filters are used in air purifiers and forced-air HVAC systems like furnaces and central air conditioning units. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a HEPA filter can theoretically remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any other airborne particles with a microscopic size of 0.3 microns. These are known as “true HEPA filters,” which must meet strict industry standards for air filtration. The difference between a HEPA filter and a regular air filter is that HEPA filters are composed of thousands of thin fibers. This design is...

Help Us Keep Propane & Oil Deliveries on Schedule This is the time of year to share some tips to assure timely deliveries as well as how to keep your heating system operating safely and efficiently all through winter. Let’s begin with some delivery advice. Watch Your Tank Levels If you call us to order fuel, make sure to check your heating oil or propane tank regularly—especially in the middle of a cold snap. Don’t wait until your fuel level gets too low. We recommend calling when your oil tank is about ¼ full or when your propane tank gauge reaches 30%. Combine Automatic Delivery with a Tank Monitor Are you signed up for automatic delivery? If you aren’t, we think you should be! Automatic delivery is a free service that takes away the hassle of having to check your tank and order your fuel. It also lowers the risk of running out of heating oil or propane. Whether you use propane or heating oil, you may qualify for a wireless tank monitor, which you can use in combination wit...

A Furnace Distributes Warm Air Through Your Home Today’s energy-efficient furnaces offer Delaware Valley homeowners a great opportunity to increase their comfort while decreasing their energy usage. New furnaces can now heat a home using significantly less energy compared to older-generation equipment. Knowing more about how your furnace works will help you to make smart choices if you’re considering replacing your old heating system with a new, high-efficiency model. And if you’re having a heating problem, knowing more about how your furnace works will be helpful when you discuss the issue with our service technician. Understanding Your Furnace Furnaces can be powered by either fuel oil, propane gas, natural gas or electricity. Also known as warm-air or forced-air systems, furnaces produce heated air in the combustion chamber. Inside a gas- or oil-fired furnace, the fuel is mixed with air and burned. The heat exchanger transfers the heat to the air, which is pushed through the ...

What Is a Boiler? Boilers use hot water or steam to heat your home. Another name for a boiler is a hydronic heating system, which is defined as a system that transfers heat via a circulating fluid, such as water, in a closed system of pipes. Steam boilers can still be found in older homes, usually ones built before the 1950s. If you have this type of system, your boiler stays true to its name because it actually has to boil water to make steam before your heat can be distributed. In comparison, newer boilers do not need to boil the water to make steam. Instead, they use hot water to distribute heat through a home’s piping. The heat is distributed through your home by either radiators or baseboards. Because a boiler is a closed-loop system, water does not need to be constantly brought in or replaced, making it more efficient. Some of the key components of a boiler system include: a burner , where the fuel (gas or oil) is ignited in the combustion chamber . a heat exchanger , wh...

Where It Comes from, How It Keeps You Warm If you’ve kept your home warm with heating oil for a while, you probably already know that heating oil, like many other products, comes from the refinement of crude oil. Through the process of distillation, hydrocarbons are removed from the crude oil and become a substance that can be further purified and blended to make the heating oil that we ultimately deliver to your heating oil tank. Wilson Oil and Propane just doesn’t just deliver heating oil though. We deliver premium B20 Bioheat Plus® fuel. Bioheat Plus fuel is a blend of ultra-low-sulfur heating oil and renewable biodiesel. It’s produced domestically, and it offers several advantages over traditional heating oil. Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oils, animal fats and other renewable materials, is considered a biogenic fuel that reduces carbon output 100%. That’s because the combustion of biofuels and other biogenic energy sources recycle  carbon dioxide ...

Affordable Energy for Everyone Since propane was first identified as a volatile compound in gasoline in 1910, businesses and scientists have worked diligently to make propane the viable fuel source it represents today. The process itself of making propane has evolved over the last century or so. Today, there are two primary ways propane is produced. Because propane is created through the processing of natural gas and crude oil, it is a fuel that is largely a domestic product. In fact, about 90% of the American propane supply is generated right here in the United States! That abundant, right-at-home supply in your propane tank makes propane a reliable fuel choice for your Delaware Valley home or business, and all its potential appliances and equipment, throughout the year. Crude Oil Refining Some propane is created during the process of crude oil refining. There are a lot of products that can be derived from crude oil refining, including gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, jet fuel an...

When the Power Goes Out, Let Propane Take Over We’ve all experienced a number of uncomfortable power outages in the Delaware Valley over the years. To stay prepared for such disruptive events, some people keep gasoline-powered portable generators in their garages for power outage emergencies. But these units have the capacity to deliver only a limited amount of power. They can also be dangerous if not vented properly. On the other hand, many people have opted for a propane generator installatio n instead. A whole-house propane generator allows you to enjoy all the comforts of home and keeps you safe when power is disrupted. With a propane-powered standby generator, your power will restart automatically within seconds after an outage, and it will stay on until power is restored – all without the hassles of worrying about the fuel you need for a portable gasoline generator. Permanently installed (similar to an outdoor A/C unit) and supplied by a propane tank, propane generators are ...

Dear customer, On October 5, OPEC announced it was slashing production by two million barrels a day. As a result, the price of heating oil has spiked over $1.00 per gallon, as of the time of this writing. This is not just impacting heating oil. Expect natural gas, electricity, and diesel to move higher too. (Fortunately, propane prices have been more stable.) Of course, this is not simply about supply and demand. We’ve learned that when prices move this far this fast, you can always see the impact of Wall Street firms that jump to take advantage of the momentum to make a quick buck. (Or should we say millions of bucks?) It frustrates the heck out of us. Of course, things can turn around just as quickly. We saw prices spike in spring only to drop by over a dollar in summer. There are just too many variables to know where things will go from here. Here are a few things to bear in mind We hate high prices and volatility just as much as you do. It hurts our customers, hurts our compa...

A Heat Pump Can Keep Your Home Warm and Cool Thanks to evolving technology, heat pumps have become more practical in colder climates like the Delaware Valley. Here’s how a heat pump works. Unlike a furnace that creates heat and distributes it through your home, a heat pump doesn’t create heat. Instead, it captures existing heat energy from the outside (yes, even in cold temperatures) and transfers that heat to inside your home. In warm weather, a heat pump does another important job: it functions just like a central air conditioning system does. The heat pump system absorbs the heat from inside your home and releases it to the outside . The obvious benefit of a heat pump is that you don’t need two separate systems to keep your home comfortable. The all-in-one heat pump can handle the job of both cooling and heating your home. The secret to doing this is a device built into a heat pump that’s called a reversing valve . This reverses the flow of refrigerant in your heat pump syst...

It’s a Clean-Burning Fuel with a Small Carbon Impact Propane is already environmentally beneficial since it burns cleanly with negligible greenhouse gas emissions. The advent of renewable propane gas , however, takes the propane industry’s effort to become more sustainable a big step further. While it is not in common use yet, renewable propane gas has positioned itself to be a major part of the clean fuel conversation in the years ahead. Just as conventional propane is a coproduct of crude oil and natural gas extraction, most renewable propane can be considered a coproduct of biofuel creation. Many of the same feedstocks that go into creating biofuel — animal oils, vegetable oils, biomass — are used to create renewable propane. This method of producing propane is as safe, cost-effective, and dependable as that for propane generated from natural gas. And when compared to electricity, renewable propane has a considerably smaller carbon footprint. It can also reduce our reliance on a...

Reasons to Get Your Maintenance Service Now We always advise customers to look ahead and get a jump start on preparing for the heating season. The most important thing you can do right now is to schedule a tune-up on your furnace, boiler or heat pump. Scheduling a propane gas safety check for your gas appliances is also highly recommended. Why now? Our service schedule fills up rapidly in the fall, when the cooler weather makes everyone start paying attention again to their heating system. Fall storms and early cold snaps cause further complications because sometimes we have to cancel scheduled tune-up appointments so that we can respond to no-heat emergencies. Why You Shouldn’t Skip Regular Maintenance Regular maintenance is a vital money-saving investment for heating systems– not just because it can keep your equipment running safely and at peak efficiency, but also because history shows that four out of five heating system breakdowns are preventable if you follow the manufactur...

Ways to Take the Strain Off Your Central Air System A properly functioning air conditioning system makes it easy for all of us to stay cool at an affordable cost. But it’s easy to make mistakes along the way that could cost you money, especially when we’re trying to muddle through a stifling heat wave like the one we recently experienced. With that in mind, here are some tips from our air conditioning experts to help everything run more smoothly for the rest of the cooling season. Don’t Be Impatient Some people turn off their cooling system when everyone leaves the house for the day. When they get back home, especially on a hot day, they will turn the thermostat down as low as possible to speed up the cooling process. But this won’t cool your house any faster! In fact, it just keeps your system working longer than necessary and will actually cost you money , especially if you forget to reset the thermostat to an energy-saver mode. The best advice is to program your thermostat at ...