Before purchasing a heat pump, check to see if its manufacturer is certified by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute. This means that the pump has met strict standards for performance and reliability. Compare the efficiency ratings of various heat pumps. An oil furnace is similar to a gas furnace in that it has a fan and blower system to distribute the heat throughout the house. In an oil furnace a power burner is used to mix oil with air.
Air is blown into the heat chamber, heated, and then exits outdoors through a vent pipe.
Like a gas furnace, an oil unit has safety devices to shut down the oil supply if there is a problem at the burner. All furnaces and boilers have controls to prevent them from overheating while the room thermostat provides heating in an even flow. Since the cost of fuel has increased and probably will remain high in the future, you may want to look into auxiliary controls when buying a new heating system, or when improving an existing one. You set the timing. The set-back thermostat will do this for you after the dials are properly set.