Will Canola Work in an Oil Furnace?

Oil Furnace Fuel

• Residential furnaces require a particular viscosity, or thickness, of fuel to operate correctly. Home oil furnaces are not typically designed to handle thick vegetable oil such as canola. Canola oil must be preheated to reach required viscosity before being used in the furnace. If the furnace is not designed by the manufacturer to preheat the canola oil correctly, canola should not be used as a furnace fuel. Older furnaces can be retrofitted with an oil burner that heats the oil to the correct temperature.

  Reading the manufacturer's instructions, warranty and installation guides or contacting the furnace manufacturer or dealer to verify the fuels the furnace is designed for is advisable. Putting the wrong fuel into the oil-burning furnace could invalidate the warranty and damage the furnace.

Canola Oil–Burning Furnaces

• Home furnaces designed to burn alternative fuel oils have been adapted specifically to handle vegetable and alternative oils. Some manufacturers call these furnaces waste oil furnaces, and others refer to them as multi-oil burners. Most alternative oil-burning furnaces preheat the waste and vegetable oils using an electric burner. Once the oil reaches the correct temperature, the oil is delivered into the tank for burning. The added step of heating the oil first — conventional oil heaters don't have to do this — increases the amount of electricity the oil heater uses, which increases the overall cost of heating the home.

Biodiesel Heating Oil

• Biodiesel heating oil is a combination of waste and vegetable fats, such as canola oil, that are filtered and refined to work as a standard heating oil in furnaces. Pure biodiesel oil is not used in a home furnace. Instead, the biodiesel fuel is blended with a standard heating oil. Biodiesel is blended because pure biodiesel oil also works as a solvent. In used furnaces, the biodiesel breaks down sludge and other buildup inside the tank that can potentially clog the furnace and cause damage. In new or used furnaces, pure biodiesel fuel can also break down rubber parts. Once deteriorated, the damaged parts can cause the furnace to break down or leak.

Where to Use Canola

• If you are driven to reuse your waste canola oil or use a fresh bottle of canola as a fuel and you do not have a properly retrofitted oil furnace, try using the canola to fuel an oil lamp instead. Both rancid and fresh vegetable oils work as fuel in oil lamps. However, never use canola or other oils in a kerosene lamp. Kerosene is a gas -- not an oil -- and it is considered volatile. The combination could be deadly.

The Price of Canola Oil

• Compared with the heating oil used in most oil-burning furnaces or off-the-shelf lamp oil, pure canola oil is an expensive fuel. Standard heating oil is priced by the gallon and, as of 2011, fluctuates between $3 and $4 per gallon. Purchasing food-grade canola oil in bulk can cost around $13 to $20 a gallon. A quart of canola oil can run about $4 to $6 at the local grocery store. Fresh canola oil as a fuel is not a cost-effective choice as of 2011.