Home Heating Oil for Dummies

oil furnace diagram

We long ago learned a lesson that doesn't appear to have sunk in for today's DotD candidate: you should take "facts" with the proverbial grain of salt when they come from someone who makes money off them. Of course, it helps if you have the knowledge to fact-check your source and to understand what you learn. None of that seems to have occurred to Jade Blue, however when she pumped out "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Home Heating Oil" for eHow.com, now in Leaf Group's HomeSteady.com niche.

Although definitely in the running for the most creative pen name, Blue was also pretty clearly ignorant of her topic. That's probably because she'd never had to think much about heating systems (you know, living in apartments and your parents' house...). So, she did what she figured was the next best thing: she googled her topic. Unfortunately for Jade, her first result was "help" from a heating oil distributor. Oh, and she also managed to conflate heating oil with crude oil somewhere along the line...
Mostly, though, Jade just transmitted bogosity to her readers, rewording random factoids into her own prose:

• "Oil burns 400 degrees hotter than natural gas or electricity..." — We weren't aware that electricity "burns." You?
• "Ships transport large quantities of oil on a regular basis, creating situations deemed a disadvantage of oil." — Unless you live on an island, the transportation of heating oil in trucks is more problematic, Jade.
• "When correctly installed, oil-based heating systems produce .003 of particulate emissions..." — We absolutely detest statistics presented in a vacuum, and this is more of a vacuum than most: Just WTF does ".003 of particulate emissions" mean, anyway?
• "Spilled home heating oil does not create a fire hazard, but makes a negative long-lasting impact on the surrounding area." — Ummm, dumbass, you got that from an article about crude oil spills!

• "Another disadvantage of oil includes the formation of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to ozone depletion" — No, you blithering idiot, it does not. Global climate change, yes, ozone depletion, no.
  "Converting from an older gas furnace to an oil-based system significantly reduces heating costs." — We call bullshit.
• "Because oil furnaces run on electricity, one of the disadvantages of home oil heat involves electric bill increases." – Apparently, our candidate is unaware that gas furnaces also use electricity...

Let's be frank: this freelancer had no business writing about heating oil, furnaces, HVAC, oil, energy, electricity, pollution, or any of several other subjects she raised. Our Dumbass of the Day should really stay in her lane, as the kids say.

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