All posts by NORAweb

04Feb/22

NORA Announces New President

The National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) has announced the appointment of Michael Devine as incoming President following the retirement of current President John Huber effective March 1, 2022. Devine comes to NORA after having served as Vice President of Sales & Business Development for World Energy.

As part of the Senior Management Team, he managed day to day activities for sales and volumes at terminals, prepared monthly and annual budgets and developed key national accounts including FedEx, UPS, Chevron, Ryder, The Union Pacific Railroad and others. Prior to his time at World Energy, he was the CEO and founder of Earth Energy Alliance where he assisted the petroleum distribution industry in reducing the carbon footprint of their fuel by increasing the use of renewable liquid fuels. 

Michael Devine

Devine has deep roots in the oilheat industry. He began his career in his family’s business, Devine Brothers of Norwalk, CT. He started as a truck driver and service technician, growing into roles as sales manager, vice president and president of the 50+ employee, third- generation business. He is a member of the NORA board and has been a positive and active voice in supporting the oilheat and liquid heating fuels industry for decades. 

NORA Board Chairman, Roger Marran announced, “We are excited about having Michael join the talented NORA team as president. He is an exemplary leader with the ability to further build on NORA’s success with his extensive knowledge and passion for the oilheat, biofuels and liquid fuels industry. He will help us expand on our mission of enabling renewable cleaner fuels, more efficient heating system and a highly educated technical workforce and is committed to NORA’s vision to provide better solutions for American consumers and businesses with cleaner, more efficient and more reliable heat and hot water systems.

Devine succeeds NORA’s founding President John Huber, who is retiring after a 22-year career with NORA. John will continue in his current role as President through early 2022 and will continue to provide support for Michael to ensure a successful transition period. Devine commented, “I’m honored to be selected as the next President of NORA. NORA has been critical to advancing the heating oil industry for over two decades. The challenges to our industry are great, but with the resources of NORA and the committed leadership of NORA’s Board, retailers and wholesalers throughout the country, we will develop the best path forward for this great industry.”

 NORA was authorized by Congress in 2000 to generate funding for the Oilheating industry to provide more efficient and more reliable heat and hot water to American consumers. NORA’s efforts focus on Consumer Education, Professional Education, Energy Efficiency & Safety and Research. For more information on NORA’s activities go to NORAweb.org.

07Aug/20

NORA President on Low-Carbon Liquid Fuels

NORA President, John Huber, spoke with Eurofuel about the necessity of low-carbon liquid fuels in the U.S. and the joint conference on the Future of Liquid Fuels that NORA is hosting with Eurofuel on consecutive Wednesdays starting August 19.

What role can low carbon fuels play in climate protection?

NORA President John Huber

The economic activity of a high percentage of our economy is linked to carbon fuels. Heat, electricity and transportation represent almost 46% of carbon emissions. If we do not address fuels, we are essentially not addressing global warming which is not an acceptable answer.  Thus, we must have lower carbon fuels.  As an industry that supplies liquid fuels we must supply the right low-carbon answer or we are essentially conceding the battle.  

Continue reading
23Apr/20

New Fuel Storage Tanks Manual

The National Oilheat Research Alliance has released a new Advanced Gold Series manual, Heating Fuel Storage Tanks, to accompany its Advanced Storage Tank Gold Series course or as a stand-alone study guide.
Written by John Donohue, J Donohue Associates and John Levey, NORA, the new manual recognizes the importance of on-site liquid fuel storage to the homeowner and emphasizes the need to choose the correct tank type, install it properly and conduct ongoing inspections and maintenance.
With eleven chapters the manual covers:

  • Why Tanks Fail
  • Codes & Regulations
  • Tank Selection Criteria
  • Installation Procedures
  • Fuel Lines
  • Filtration
  • Fuel Valves and Accessories
  • Tank Inspection& Maintenance Procedures
  • Tank Abandonment
  • Service Guides 

In addition, two Appendices include six evaluation, inspection and delivery report checklists along with NORA’s Recommended Practice for Home Heating Oil Tank Flood Resistance white paper.

Heating Fuel Storage Tanks is available in either print or free digital versions at noraweb.org/advanced-study-manuals

16Mar/20

Technical Note: Nitrile Rubber and B20 Biodiesel Blends

A significant amount of new testing data on nitrile performance in U.S. heating oil equipment with biodiesel meeting today’s stringent ASTM standards is now available. This recent testing shows common nitrile elastomers in typical heating oil burner pumps in the U.S. perform the same or better using B20 than those using conventional No. 2 heating oil. The validity of this testing is supported by elastomer manufacturers marketing B-100 nitrile which could, if appropriate, be used by burner manufacturers. See Technical note here.

15Oct/18

Outgoing NORA Chairman Leaves Research Legacy

Tom Santa, Santa Energy, Bridgeport, CT, has been the Chairman of the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) since 2017 with his term expiring at the end 2018. For decades, Santa has been a strong advocate of oilheating research. He was an active participant in many Brookhaven Technology Conferences, with a particular interest in bringing a rigorous understanding of the need for good data to assess fuel quality.

When Santa took over as Chairman, NORA’s Research Laboratory in Plainview, NY was still in its infancy. With very little equipment in place, and with the well regarded Dr. Tom Butcher at the helm, Santa focused on ensuring the industry developed new technologies and a better understanding of the industries’ problems and potential solutions. An active, scientifically sound and well respected lab was vital to achieve this. In addition to Dr. Butcher, a strong team needed to be put in place, preferably young talent. Dr. Butcher was encouraged to develop and work with recent graduates and promising students from nearby Stony Brook University. Continue reading

04Jan/16

NORA embarks on a $1 million consumer outreach program

Using the internet and social media to bring a half-million visitors to its consumer website 

The decade from 2004 through 2014 was one of the most challenging ever for the oilheating industry. Warm winters, high and volatile fuel prices and strong political and environmental movements against hydrocarbon fuels all converged to make a difficult time for both heating oil suppliers and consumers.

Fortunately, the industry has been rewarded with a collapse in fuel prices- currently the lowest crude prices in 11 years. Additionally, through the leadership of NORA and numerous state and regional associations working with NORA, the industry has begun to transition to low-carbon and renewable fuels.

The next step is to make sure oilheat customers aware of these important positive changes so they will know their loyalty to oilheat has been rewarded.

Continue reading

04Feb/15

NORA Commissions Energy Efficiency Programs Report

Recognizing the importance of energy efficiency for both the US consumer and for the retail heating oil companies that service them, NORA is developing a new energy efficiency program. NORA’s commitment to energy efficiency is so strong that fifteen percent of NORA collections will be spent on the program.

In order to have a good understanding of existing energy efficiency programs and to establish a baseline, NORA commissioned Warm Thoughts Communications,Clifton, NJ to review a select group of state energy programs. This review was recently completed and the report Understanding the Energy Efficiency Landscape, and Implications for NORA Initiatives has been issued.

This report describes various existing state programs and reviews several particularly successful programs and their relationship to the retail oil dealers who are the backbone of NORA.

The report’s primary recommendation for NORA is to facilitate the development of energy efficiency programs for retail service companies. This would provide companies an opportunity to provide additional services to their customers, improve their workforce and enhance energy efficiency. A NORA committee is now examining the types of materials that should be developed to facilitate this program.

It should be noted that this report is not official NORA policy, but does provide guidance for moving forward in this critical area.

21Oct/14

NORA Training Videos on YouTube

The complete library of NORA service technician training videos are available on the National Oilheat Research Alliance channel on YouTube.

Seventeen videos, each one covering a specific topic of interest to oilheat service technicians and HVAC contractors, can be viewed anywhere/anytime on any internet connected device through the popular video sharing website YouTube.

Video topics include

[ezcol_1half]Action Response to a No Heat Call
Tune Up
Fuel Delivery 
Heating Oil & Our Environment
Primary Controls Part 1: Thermo-Mechanical
Primary Controls Part 2: Cad Cell Relays
Primary Controls: Microprocessor and Riello 
Steel Above-Ground Tank Installations
Polyethylene/Steel Above-Ground Tank Installation[/ezcol_1half]

[ezcol_1half_end]Tank Inspection Procedures
Residential Underground Storage Static Tank Process
Above-Ground Fiberglass-Reinforced Plastic Tanks
Combustion Efficiency Testing
FSA Calculator
Customer Service
Outdoor Reset
Carbon Monoxide and How to Respond to an Alarm[/ezcol_1half_end]

NORA silver and gold certified technicians can earn CUEs by viewing the videos  and taking the online exam. Learn more here. The video library can also be found at https://noraweb.org/videos/

07Oct/14

NORA research shows up to 20% biodiesel OK for home heating

[ezcol_1half]Research conducted by the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) blending up to 20% biodiesel (D6751), with both standard and low sulfur heating oil, showed no issues attributable to the use of biodiesel in heating equipment. This research includes both lab testing and field results.

Field experience with Bioheat® fuel (blended heating oil and biodiesel) has been overwhelmingly positive. A recent service organization survey conducted by NORA and Brookhaven National Laboratory observed that some 35,000 buildings are currently using Bioheat® containing more than 5% biodiesel without incident.

It is important to note that biodiesel is a specific product that meets American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6751 specifications and has well-established product characteristics designed to ensure that it can be safely and efficiently blended into heating oil and diesel. Biodiesel meets detailed fuel property specifications within ASTM D6751. ASTM consists of experts from petroleum companies, equipment manufacturers and research organizations. In-spec biodiesel has undergone rigorous material compatibility, combustion, lubricity, field testing, and stability studies as part of the long ASTM approval process. Continue reading

29Sep/14

Thermo Products, releases 95% efficient Oil Furnace

NORA R&D funding contributes to the new ultra-high efficiency appliance.

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Thermo Products has developed a 95% AFUE oil condensing furnace that is Energy Star qualified and can match the AFUE ratings of gas furnaces.

Thermo Products Research and Development Department, headed by Chief Engineer, Everett James, have designed and developed this new ultra-high efficient oil furnace with funding assistance from the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA). “With efficiencies equal to many gas furnaces, we are excited to offer this energy efficient product to our customers”, according to Linda Keene, Marketing Coordinator of Thermo Products.

The OHC95 has a firing rate of 75,000 Btuh with up to 4 tons of A/C capacity.  This furnace uses industry standard components such as the Riello BF3 Burner. Standard ECM blower motor offers additional energy savings.

When designing this new oil furnace, Thermo Products asked themselves “How can we make this unit easier to service than our competitors?”.  Well, they have designed easy access to the primary and secondary heat exchangers by mounting them on a roller system to be pulled out. This makes servicing the primary and secondary heat exchangers quick and easy for routine maintenance. They have also designed the secondary heat exchanger with larger tubes allowing less restricted airflow minimizing buildup.

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According to Rob Paquette, National Sales Manager for Thermo Products, They have had units in beta testing for some time now and even with the cold weather we have been experiencing lately, we have had no issues at all with this furnace.  One beta test site has seen fuel savings of approximately 25%.The OHC95 is offered in direct vent only using 3” PVC pipe.  The cabinet is 24W x 37.5D x 48 H with heavy 22 gauge cabinet steel with rounded door corners.  The powder-coated cabinet is black with silver front panels, which differs from the classic Thermo Pride furnace colors. Venting can be either left, up or right with an air supply opening of standard 20” x 20”.

Each unit comes with a ventor assembly. This is similar to an inducer fan on a gas furnace but it is in-line with the PVC pipe. This ventor is a sealed system venting flue gases when the furnace is running while at the same time bringing in combustion air.

The OHC95 Condensing Oil Furnace is currently available for sale. Thermo Products will initially offer the OHC95 to contractors who have gone through their online training class. They are offering the technical training to make sure the system is installed to their specifications for maximum performance and efficiency.

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