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May 27, 2009 at 4:28 pm #591021
AshleyMemberAs someone who is in the process of buying her first home, I have never seen a oil furnace before. What are some opinions on them as far as efficency, value, and safety? Has anyone ever gotten rid of a oil furnace for a natural gas one and what was the cost?
May 27, 2009 at 4:37 pm #667736
mrhinehMemberThe first step is seeing if you have NG on your street (some streets don’t and that is expensive to pipe to your house). NG is cleaner, more efficient and “always on” so you can expect a little more consistency in pricing instead of having to call up your oil man (could be the middle of the night if you run out) in the winter months. NG rates change too, but I think it is cheaper. I have not had to exchange, but it can be done and I do prefer NG and will only buy homes that are converted. That said, I don’t think it is real inexpensive because of piping and such, but try calling Lennox, or Trane, or another heating supplier for some quotes.
PSE (Puget Sound Engergy) has a rebate promotion for customers wanting to convert, check their website.
http://www.pse.com/solutions/foryourhome/Pages/ChoosingNatGas.aspx
May 27, 2009 at 4:44 pm #667737
shihtzuParticipantI’ve had oil at the last two houses I’ve lived in. If you set up to have oil delivered you never run out. The oil company takes care of it all.
We did look into getting natural gas, but since it only goes as far as the next door neighbor, it would be $9000 to have it reach our house. Having oil for heating doesn’t really offend me so it’s definitely not worth that.
One silly thing I like about oil is there’s no irrational fear of gas explosions or leaks. I’m sure there’s something else to worry about, but I don’t…
May 27, 2009 at 4:46 pm #667738
B-squaredParticipantI have an oil furnace and have no complaints. if the house has an older furnace it may not be as efficient as a newer one. i would have your inspector look it over and perhaps ask the agent to find out if the previous owners kept it regularly maintained. home inspector should try to get a look at the heat exchanger. i have always had a service contract with the oil company to keep mine in top working condition. i am also on auto-fill so have never run out of fuel. am burning 20% biodiesel.
i believe that you can offset the cost of getting an NG furnace by converting other appliances to NG also (like a range or water heater). this would be a good time to consider getting an on-demand water heater if the opportunity presents itself. personally, i don’t like the idea of the gas company being a monopoly (i can change oil companies at will). i also lived in a rental that had a gas leak, and that was a little creepy. i’d say there are pro and cons on both sides.
May 27, 2009 at 4:52 pm #667739
maplesyrupParticipantWhen we bought our house we found out there’s no gas line on our street and the cost to get one was going to be prohibitively expensive (at least $10k).
So we kept the oil furnace and it’s not bad. We’ve never run out (we don’t use a lot of heat though) and have a service come out automatically every month to fill the tank.
It can get expensive though if you have a big house and keep it hot. One winter we got hit with a $400 bill- the thermostat has been on 60 degrees ever since.
May 27, 2009 at 5:08 pm #667740
mrhinehMemberThe other positive is the gas stove. Enjoy cooking with that a lot, quick to heat up, but simmering is the trade off. Leaky lines I think are a very, very minute problem (otherwise there would be homes exploding all over). Yes it can happen. Yes you have to be diligent about the stove. But gas has a very specific smell and I would suspect that some of the fire and carbon monoxide sensors can also pick it up. We have about 1400sqf house, use a gas dryer, wh, stove and furnace. We top out at $150/175mo in the winter, and $20-30 in the summer. We have upgraded all our windows and doors.
May 27, 2009 at 5:13 pm #667741
AshleyMemberThanks for the advice everyone!
May 27, 2009 at 5:29 pm #667742
swimcatMemberOur house had an oil furnace- it was ancient, and it ran out of oil too many times so it gave out on us a couple years ago. I hated that thing- it was loud, smelly, inefficient and expensive (I guess I was somewhat irrationally scared of it too!). We used to spend $250/month at minimum to keep the house (800sf main floor only) at a blistering 62 degrees.
We have since replaced the windows and put in a heat pump. We keep the thermostat at 70, all of our appliances are electric, and our electric bill is about $75/month. And we now get A/C in the summer time with the heat pump. The summer electric bill is still around $75/month. The heat pump was expensive, but worth it to me since we would have had to pay a lot to get the NG line to our house.
We did spend a lot on these upgrades, but I’m comfortable all year long and it was worth it to me.
Oh, one bit of advice if you buy this house. You can get free insurance for the oil tank in case it leaks (at least, you used to be able to)- I don’t know where to find the insurance info, but any oil company could tell you more.
May 28, 2009 at 4:55 am #667743
pixel pusherMemberThe insurance is from PLIA. Here is the website, http://www.plia.wa.gov/. It is free and covers $60,000 for cleanup of contamination from active heating oil tanks.
We have an oil furnace and also looked into NG conversion. It was roughly $6000 for PSE to run a line from the street and to hire a contractor to install pipes inside the house. Plus the cost of the appliances, which PSE gives you a break on install for adding more appliances that use gas. Our estimate was based on converting to a gas furnace, stove and dryer. So you could add a water heater and maybe get the install cheaper.
We are sticking with oil for now and are considering buying a used furnace on craigslist. They are sort of out of style right now and are really cheap on craigslist.
May 28, 2009 at 6:23 am #667744
KevinParticipantConsider adding an NG hot water heater at the same time, if you do decide to go with an NG furnace. Plus, a previous poster mentioned discounts for converting more than one appliance to gas.
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You will almost never have to endure a cold shower or bath because you used all the hot water. The NG water heaters recover much faster than an electric.
May 28, 2009 at 2:53 pm #667745
hammerheadParticipantthe biggest issue is the cost of oil at the time. last fall it cost over 800 to fill this spring it was about 400. otherwise oil it fine. doesn’t smell and comfortable.
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