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Burner Manufacturer Announces UL Listing for B20

New standard provides major endorsement for renewable liquid heating fuels

Heating equipment manufacturer Carlin Combustion Technology has announced that all of its residential oil burners are now UL listed for biofuel blends up to B20.

The listing applies specifically to Carlin burners manufactured after February 16, 2021. Covered models include the EZ 1, 2, 3, and LF Residential Burners; 99FRD, 102CRD, and EZ-66 Residential Burners; and Carlin Select Residential Burners. The UL listed burners will be identifiable by new labeling on the chassis and carton.

In a press release received by Oil & Energy, the manufacturer stated, “We are confident that the newly UL listed B20 burners will deliver the same performance and satisfaction contractors and fuel dealers have come to expect from Carlin Combustion.

“Carlin is committed to supporting the industry both today and in the future as the industry moves to meet environmental challenges while continuing to provide consumers with safe, economical, and comfortable heating for their homes,” the announcement continued.

Carlin cited NEFI’s Providence Resolution goals of 15 percent carbon reductions by 2023, 40 percent by 2030, and net-zero by 2050 as an impetus for the new B20 standard. “Bio fuel blends with increased levels of bio content meet these challenges and create a path forward for the industry,” the company wrote. “B20 Bio fuel, for which the Carlin burner is now approved, meets the first target of a 15 percent carbon reduction.”

This marks the second time in the past six months that a major heating oil burner manufacturer has announced its products compatible with B20 blends. The previous announcement came in September 2020.

A National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) survey of just 106 dealers showed that 96,997 of their residential heating fuel customers have used biofuel blends of B11-B25 with little or no impact on their equipment service needs. The survey results, published last year (see page 22 of our June 2020 issue), said most of these customers had been receiving the fuel blends for several years, some for over five years.

“Many dealers have used B20 blends for years and more are looking to adopt it soon,” said Richard Lyons, president of Carlin parent company C. Cowles & Co. “For years, Carlin has supported these early adopters and worked with industry allies to advance this effort, ultimately leading to the creation of a UL standard for B20 burners.”

A proposed revision to the UL Standard for Oil Burners (UL 296), submitted on September 27, 2019 — just 11 days after the Providence Resolution was adopted — called for the standard to add requirements for burners utilizing biodiesel blends. Such requirements had already been established for several burner components, including strainers and valves. The UL Standard for Oil Burners was most recently revised on January 8, 2021 and before then, September 30, 2020.

Along with NEFI and NORA, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has welcomed manufacturers’ support for higher blending standards. “We are extremely happy to see equipment companies stepping up to the table to support higher biodiesel blends in home heating oil after the years of research conducted to make that move possible,” NBB Technical Director Scott Fenwick said last September. “[The] Providence Resolution has served as a catalyst and we are pleased to see all segments of the industry continuing to pull toward those extremely important carbon reduction goals.”