I'm in the beginning stages of researching this. Our furnace repair guy is here right now servicing and repairing what he can on our "obsolete unit." That's exactly how he put it. This house was built in 1924 and it's the original unit with lots of replaced parts, all of which are still really old and none of which are made any longer. The only item covered under any of the service agreements would be the transformer, which is brand new from a year ago. The only way to get parts from here on out would be used, and none of the companies around here deal with used parts and they won't cover them under warranty even if we buy them 2nd or 3rd hand. If we did that, we'd have to install them ourselves.
Now I have to convince my husband to start the process of converting to a gas burner. We are already connected to gas for our water boiler and my kitchen stove. We do have a fireplace that hasn't been used even by the previous owners just before us.
The furnace guy is about to run the efficiency test on the furnace. I can hardly wait for the results of that bad boy. It's possible he's going to tell us it needs replacing immediately. He's here because it wasn't working, and it wasn't flooded with oil to clog it. :-(
Edited:
Oh! My question! Has anyone been through the process of converting from oil to gas? What's been your experience? What do we need to know?
Edit again:
I should also include that oil is much more expensive here than gas, and if we ran electric heaters it would double or triple our costs. The gas burners are more efficient and clean. Either way, if we replace with a gas burner or oil furnace it would be great for our 2013 taxes.
Edit again:
Did I say that we already have a gas line that we use for our water boiler and my kitchen stove? So we wouldn't need to go through the process of figuring out if we could even get the gas and then hooking it up. We have it hooked up already.
You can buy new oil furnaces. My whole family has them because that's what is available where they live. My mom just had her whole unit replaced a few yrs ago. It may be more of a pain to convert over especially this time of year where your going to need the heat. Gas is easier though
We have always had gas, and I'm so glad. We had oil when I was a kid and my grandparents had coal. We just moved from a 1926 home with a good, midlevel gas heater to a larger, higher ceiling 1910 home (with lots of windows) and a high end, high efficiency gas heater. My bill is less than half of what it was in the old house and I'm hoping that trend will continue through the winter. Even with our high ceilings and leaky windows, we are paying a lot less, and I think it's the quality of the heater. But definitely invest in a good quality gas unit - it will pay for itself in the end
You need to talk to a contractor/dealer who sells/installs a gas furnaces.
It wouldn't hurt to get bids on what it would cost to go to a new oil furnace either.
More than one would be best so you get different bids on how much it'll cost.
You have the line already but you have no idea if connections will need to be upgraded.
You need to know what size unit will adequately heat your home.
Do you have AC for cooling in the summer?
There are such things as electric air conditioner and gas furnace packaged in a single cabinet unit.
You have to get the bids, the decide who to go with, and THEN they'll order the unit you will need (very few keep a stock of units on hand) and then they will install.
I doubt you'll get this all in place before the end of 2013 (in the next few weeks) but you'll be fine for Jan or Feb of 2014.
I just converted from an oil burner to gas about 2 months ago. The cost was $3850.00 for a new furnace.
For the same price, I got a hybrid furnace (already had a hybrid hot water heater). It runs off of either oil or gas. I really liked that option, as it allows me to switch over when the market does a 180. Which it's done twice since I bought my house. It's a $125 charge to get the "guy" to come over and switch its feed, but the "guy" has done it for free both times (since I'm switching to using their company, and either paying for several hundred gallons of oil, or a gas & service contract).
Furnace costs are furnace costs, that doesn't really change because you are converting. The last time I had a new gas line ran it was about 130 including parts. That was the branch off the line going to the laundry room so maybe 20 feet. The parts are the couple, the hook up, and pipe by the foot. Then labor costs.
My grandma went from coal to gas but that was a million years ago.
