If your home has an older oil-based heating system, you know it’s only a matter of time before it needs to be replaced. The default replacement advice is to switch to gas. But most of the comparative stats that paint natural gas heating as a way to instantly put saving back in your wallet and go greener are only comparing it against that aging oil furnace. Here are three reasons to update your house’s heating but to stick with oil:

Natural gas isn’t clean, but bioheat is.

Bioheat is a material source that’s growing in popularity across the coldest regions of the United States. It’s a combination of a standard oil and biodiesel, and it can even be processed with used restaurant oils. It emits less carbon, no matter what proportion of biodiesel to standard oil you might come to prefer, and it reuses already processed oils. If the environment is on your list of pros and cons for finalizing your new heating system, bioheat is green.

Are you going to get your money back from switching systems?

Homeownership always involves a lot of financial considerations, and some of the hardest decisions to fully weigh involve initial expenses and eventual savings. Some improvement projects, like adding attic insulation with the appropriate R-value for your area, get you a good return in a matter of months. Other improvements, like customized home additions, might never help you get your money back, even with the value added at resale. Converting your heating system from oil to natural gas falls somewhere in the middle but leans toward the latter.

Natural gas systems might reduce energy costs by a few hundred dollars every year, depending on gas and oil prices. But that won’t fully cover the cost of the conversion for at least a decade. Some areas of the Northeast and Northwest also don’t have readily accessible gas lines, and that all add on additional decades of usage before you start to see actual savings. You get more potential savings if you decide to just update your already existing oil heating system, instead.

For more reasons to heat your home with oil, and to find experts who can keep your home’s heating in good repair, go to McKee Energy Solutions.