Does shutting off an oil water heater save on oil? We've heard this could be bad for the furnace. Advice?

Question

Does shutting off an oil water heater save on oil? We've heard this could be bad for the furnace. Advice?

Answer 1

If you are talking about the emergency shut off to the oil burner, my husband and I shut ours off all the time. When we need to have hot water we just flip it back on a and wait a few minutes for the water to heat up. In winter when we have the heat running we leave it on for obvious reasons, but in summer it stays off unless we need hot water. We have never had any problems with our oil burning furnace from doing this.

Answer 2

Sure, if you're not using the oil to heat the water, you will save oil - you won't have hot water, though, unless you have another way to get it hot.

I'm not sure about whether it's good or bad for the furnace, though.  I heat my house with oil (natural gas for hot water), and the oil furnace stays off all summer (obviously) without any trouble.