Or look on the burner nozzle for a number that tells the gallons per hour for the installed nozzle. The gallons-per-hour figure refers to oil consumption while the burner is actually in operation. Typical home oil furnaces consume between 0.8 and 1.7 gallons per hour of operation.or instance, if your oil burner uses 1.7 gallons per operating hour and it runs for 13 hours per day, it will burn 22 gallons per day. Divide the capacity of your fuel tank by the gallons per day to find out how long the tank will last.