A wide variety of fuels available in Alaska, their range in cost, and
a diversity of heating applications often make the selection of a fuel
an important and sometimes difficult task. While cost is important, other
factors such as convenience, cleanliness, and adaptability to automatic
control sometimes over-ride cost considerations, especially for home heating
or crop drying

Allen, Lee D.

English

ScholarWorks@UA

rcu io r  (. Mo-sW-cu / V c j r i c u J i u e E x t f e n v n e n t  S ia -iio n s  C l}.UpE SCIENCESUBRA R yUELS and IEATING SYSTEMSjjOSi AlaAJzan UameA,l e e  D. A llenacyucaliu^iaL enqineesifynut&ulUy, o^A laiJeoAGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONCircular 27 March 1968^ A lRttANSC wcwsilY 05- MASKAA  wide variety of fuels available in Alaska, their range in cost, and a diversity of heating applications often make the selection of a fuel an important and sometimes difficult task. W hile cost is important, other factors such as convenience, cleanliness, and adaptability to automatic control sometimes over-ride cost considerations, especially for home heat­ing or crop drying.Fuels for home heating include solids (w ood, coa l), liquids (furnace or stove oil) and gases (natural or liquid petroleum ). W hile not really a fuel, electricity is being employed in numerous heating applications; it can easily be compared to other heat sources and is therefore here con­sidered a fuel.C O A L  was early recognized as an important Alaskan resource, much of it being placed in naval reserves. Healy and Matanuska Valley coal beds were both known before gold was discovered in the Territory. Construction of the Alaska Railroad was partially justified to tap this fuel making it available to develop­ing Pacific naval and mercantile fleets. Hom er was established as an ocean vessel coaling point. For many years coal has been readily available to both Anchorage, Fair­banks and nearby military establish­ments as a commercial and domestic fuel and power source.Advantages of coal include ease of transport and storage, and adapt­ability to semi-automatic control. Its disadvantages, especially for home heating, are high labor requirement for moving fuel to furnace or stove and for removing ashes. A  coal heat­ing system requires attention at least once or twice daily. Handling both coal and ashes generates dust andfly ash to be combatted by the house­wife.S T O V E  O IL  and furnace oil until recently were shipped into Alaska at higher cost than locally obtained fuels. They have captured a con­siderable portion of the domestic market because of their adaptability to completely automatic control. A n  oil heating system can operate se­veral days or weeks without atten­tion. In addition, liquid fuel can be delivered from  trucks through hoses into underground steel tanks with little disruption of the home routine. N ot to be overlooked is the oil dealer’s excellent “ keep full”  service which may include annual burner inspection and adjustment.W O O D  is still the sole heat source in many Alaskan homes, especially in rural areas where logs are avail­able with little or no cash outlay. W ood  is still increasingly popular as an auxilliary heat source in both urban and rural homes containingfireplaces.. W hile wood is bulky, usually requiring some outside stor­age, it can be stored without a great deal of cost where space is available. A  neatly stacked woodpile can even add to the overall landscape effect of a well planned yard. Many Alas­kans have come to appreciate the cheery warmth offered by a fire­place. Many rely on wood for heat during electrical power outages when automatic systems fail to op­erate. Gathering wood also offers many city dwellers an opportunity to escape into Alaska’s forests for exercise and relaxation.P R O P A N E , or liquified petroleum gas, is currently limited to applica­tions in which convenience is more important than cost. It is an ex­cellent portable source of heat for camp trailers or infrequently oc­cupied cabins. It quite widely supplies heat for cooking, but seldom for home heating. Natural gas is currently available in Anchorage and a few other Alaska communities. W here available it is competitive in -cost , to fuel oil. Its advantages are similar to those of oil in that it is clean and automatic. Disadvant­ages are its explosive nature and frequent difficulty in detecting the source of leaks.E L E C T R IC IT Y  is becoming the sole source of heat in an increasing number of Alaskan homes. Con­sidered by many as the ideal fuelits great disadvantage is high op­erating cost. M ajor electric utilities in Alaska offer a special reduced rate to “ all electric”  homes, but even when reduced its operating costs are higher than for competing fuels. H igh operating costs are somewhat offset by lower installa­tion costs resulting in reduced in­terest, insurance, and depreciation. Electric systems require less main­tenance, repair, adjustment, and at­tention than others. The homeowner may value the reduced labor com ­pared to solid fuels while the home­maker will enjoy individual room temperature control, freedom from  odors, smoke, dust and noise as­sociated with other systems. New houses planned for electric heat usually have additional insulation installed to lower heating costs to nearly that of other systems.EFFICIENCY OF HEATINGSYSTEMSIn addition to the cost of fuel, the user must consider the efficiency with which it can be converted to usable heat inside the house. A uto­matic control improves efficiency by delivering heat only when re­quired. Efficiency of a heating sy­stem also depends upon such factors as burner adjustment, soot inside furnace, draft control, air adjust­ment, and degree to which the sy­stem may be overloaded. Generally efficiency ranges from 50%  for spaceheaters to 80%  for automatic oil fired furnaces. Electric current is 100% convertible to heat. Efficiency of a number of fuels in various sy­stems is as follows—W ood space heater,hand fired .............................. 50%Coal space heater,hand fired ................................. 55%Coal furnace, hand firedwithout controls ...................... 55%Coal furnace,automatic controls ............. 65%Oil space heater,hand controlled ...................... 60%Oil conversion furnace,automatic controls ..................70%Oil or gas furnace,automatic controls ..................80%Methods of distributing h e a t  through a house and the ability of individual families to tolerate tem­perature differences throughout the house also influence fuel costs. A  simple space heater warms only the surrounding area. It does not ad­equately circulate heat to remote bedrooms or basements. A  con­trolled central heating system pro­vides heat to all parts of a house. A  family can save up to 25%  by closing off unused rooms in win­ter, reducing indoor temperature a few degrees, and reducing tempera­ture at night.The heating efficiency of a fire­place in a modern home is probablynear zero because more heat escapes up the chimney when it contains no fire than is gained during time of use. N o fuel saving is usually obtained by installing a fireplace in a home.FUEL COST COMPARISONST o  compare the cost of two fuels it is necessary to employ a com ­mon basis. Since quantities of heat are usually measured in British ther­mal units (B tu ’s) a good method is to convert both fuels to the cost per Btu. A  Btu is such a small unit that it is easier to visualize dif­ferences in cost per million Btu’s. The table below compares a number o f fuels, assumes a cost and heating value and presents the purchase cost for a million Btu’s of heat. T o  determine the relative cost of heat delivered inside a house its system efficiency is applied; the overall heat cost is presented in the far right column.ANNUAL HEATING COSTSMany other factors must be con­sidered in calculating an annual cost for heat. W hile system costs such as for furnace, heat ducts and fans, hot water piping and radiators are easy to visualize, other cost dif­ferences are more obscure. For in­stance, taxes on a home are likely to be higher if it contains central heat than if it is served by a space heater. W hen a new system is toIVCRSITY Or Au^^VFAlWJAh&iCost comparisons of various feuls for stated heating plant efficiencies ( E )Heat Heat costHeat per Fuel cost p e r- inFuel content Unit unit Unit Btuf E houset1,000 Btu 1,000 Btu %Coal* 12.0/lb Ton 24,000 $16.00 $0.67 65 $1.0218.00 0.75 55 1.36Birch** 6.0/lb Cord 21,000 12.00 0.57 50 1.1420.00 0.95 50 1.90Spruce** 6.4/lb Cord 16,000 12.00 0.75 50 1.5020.00 1.25 50 2.50Furnace oil 137/gal 100 gal 13,700 23.80 1.74 80 2.18Stove oil 137/gal 100 gal 25.00 1.82 70 2.6027.00 1.97 60 3.28Electricity 3 .4 /Kwh 1000 Kwh 3,413 16.00 4.69 100 4.6925.00 7.34 100 7.34Propane gas 21.7/lb 100 lbs 2,168 16.00 7.38 80 9.23*Coal is lignite**Assumed density of birch is 3,500 pounds per ccrd, of spruce 2,500 pounds fP e r  1,000,000 BtuWHiCH FUEL TO CHOOSET w o generally different situations require a choice between two or more fuels. Perhaps the easiest is in planning a new house. The other is in modernizing an old house al­ready served by a heating system.T w o components are involved, the cost of the system and the cost of fuel. The low cost system will be cheapest for the first few years, while that system with the lowest cost fuel will be less expensive in the long run. Cost of interest, in­surance. taxes and housing modify the time required for the low first cost system to become more ex ­pensive than the cheap fuel system.be installed, investment interest is an important cost. Cost of housing the heating system is often overlook­ed. If a homeowner must reserve a portion of his housing space for a furnace room, then the cost of that portion should be charged against the heating system. Housing cost be­come even more important in a solid fuel system where bin space must also be provided. Cost of the fuel tank for oil must likewise not be neglected. Electricity is probably unique in that it takes almost no space, requires no chimney, and re­quires almost no maintenance.Interest and taxes will be higher in a more expensive heating plant and offset some benefits of cheaper fuel. T o  determine annual heating costs, the costs for depreciation, in­terest on investment, insurance, tax­es and housing allowance (including costs of chimneys and plumbing where electricity is to be compared) are added to fuel costs to arrive at a total. A ny difference in cost must be compared to the added comfort, cleanliness, reliability, convenience, reduction of labor or saving of space that the more desirable system may offer. Only after comparing all factors can a good choice be made.W hen a heating system becomes old or worn out, a change must bemade. The decision in this case is much the same as for a new house except that only the cost of those items to be replaced need be counted. Cost of a chimney already installed will be lost to an electric heating system. If the original system is still serviceable but is to be replaced to obtain a fuel saving then the en­tire cost of the new system will have to be returned from the fuel saved. Benefits such as reduced mainten­ance and of course greater comfort and convenience must be evaluated in this case. Each change is unique. Each must be considered on its own merit using the principles outlined above, and being sure to include all the appropriate costs to each system.

Circular 27

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Circular 27

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