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When power goes out, I loose my heat. No power water nor fuel pump. I'm currently researching how much it would take to wire up a generator. NG only needs a pilot light which you can manage without power.
I don't believe NG boilers have pilot lights anymore. I just had a new one installed last year and there is no pilot light, so if the power is out my boiler doesn't work. I have a NG fireplace which provides heat and does not require electricity.
If you search, there is a detail listing of oil advantages. Do a similar search as to why NG has the advantage. Of course, each of the sources of information will be biased but you can make a personal choice based on both sources. It highly depends on your locale as well. I think we are lucky in NJ that many places have a choice other than electricity.
My point was that the OP is automatically assuming that an oil furnace equipped house is automatically a "downside" and is already ascertaining the associated costs of conversion. IMO, this is the wrong way to go about it. One should determine the age, condition, and efficiency of the entire system and weigh it against the cost of conversion. We don't even know if the tank is above or below ground. Also, oil furnaces have come a long way; especially in terms of clean burn and efficiency. Its natural for those not familiar with this type of heating to have pre-conceived notions of how dirty and inefficient oil heating.... similar to the bad reputation of burning coal for heat. These are all out-dated reputations of the past.
I recommend getting a full and educated picture before deciding on whether or not the oil furnace should even a concern for the home purchase decision. If the oil furnace is still in good working order, I would rather spend the money on updating the home's insulation for a more immediate savings in heating costs.
My personal experience ( Your mileage may vary )
I've been with the same local provider for 15 years and the previous owners for more than 20 years. From what I gather, so did their previous owners ( One of the signatures on service chart was the grandfather of the current serviceman). Its a locally owned and family run business. Our relationship with them is 100%. They have never failed me. When I was broke they worked with me financially. When the system was broke, they showed up within the hour. When the system failed at 2am in the morning after returning home from a winter trip to introduce my newborn son to his grandparents, the service guy showed up with in the hour after we noticed the home wasn't warming up. Three times we needed service in the first 6 years (or so) were on the original old boiler.
When the original furnace failed (it well pass its lifetime... they rigged it to work temporarily), I had a great experience with them for the system update. The entire install took 6 hours with two teams working in parallel; Roth tank installers, furnace installers. The furnace install was very professional and clean. They also installed an indirect water heater in a separate zone for more consistent hot water separated from my home's hot water baseboard heat. The new furnace installation was financed through them as well... very reasonable. New system has been flawless but of course its still relatively new.
I have an extra tank. I can shop and stock pile at market prices. All above oil tanks. My insurance is next to nothing because I have above ground roth tanks.
For my main tank, I also have an agreement with them to lock in my prices. The price per gallon delivered can be lower but not higher than the agreed price.
My personal opinion is that its safer. You can drop a match into a bucket of fuel... it won't light.
There's more.. but those are more of the "soft" reasons (not having to deal with a utility company)... other reasons are again explained on various websites.
Things that I don't like.
You can hear the furnace go on and off.
When power goes out, I loose my heat. No power water nor fuel pump. I'm currently researching how much it would take to wire up a generator. NG only needs a pilot light which you can manage without power.
You have figure out what to do with your cooking range. My neighbor has gas piped in just for the range (oil for heating). I'm currently electric but I'm more of a grill type guy anyways.
One of the best postings I have ever seen on here. I also have a 13 year business relationship with my oil company (I did have a problem a month or so ago, and they had the problem fixed within 3 hours of my phone call....on a SUNDAY morning. Try that with the gas company), and I have a very efficient oil burner. Everyone thought paying thousands to convert over to natural gas was a 'no brainer'. Not this guy. And now us 'oil guys' who didn't convert will have some laughs as price per barrel is about half of what it used to be, and will probably stay low for years.
One of the best postings I have ever seen on here. I also have a 13 year business relationship with my oil company (I did have a problem a month or so ago, and they had the problem fixed within 3 hours of my phone call....on a SUNDAY morning. Try that with the gas company), and I have a very efficient oil burner. Everyone thought paying thousands to convert over to natural gas was a 'no brainer'. Not this guy. And now us 'oil guys' who didn't convert will have some laughs as price per barrel is about half of what it used to be, and will probably stay low for years.
While you get warm and fuzzy for your oil company I cut my heating bill in half 4 years ago when my oil burner broke for good and I switched to gas. Natural gas is still way cheaper. Maybe this year I wouldn't have saved as much, but oil still cost more. I estimate that after this winter I will have saved the entire amount of my new furnace - something that would not have happened if I bought a new oil burner.
You are mistaken thinking oil will remain at this level for years. On the other hand, natural gas is much harder to move offshore from the US. Prices will remain cheap for natural gas for years.
One of the best postings I have ever seen on here. I also have a 13 year business relationship with my oil company (I did have a problem a month or so ago, and they had the problem fixed within 3 hours of my phone call....on a SUNDAY morning. Try that with the gas company),
I've had natural gas for over 15 years. You don't call the gas company if there is a problem with your furnace. You call the same local guys as everyone else. When I had a leak in my gas boiler pipe last year I called my heating guy at 7:30am and they were at my house by 8:30am. Sorry, but that special relationship you think you have with your oil company isn't that special after all.
Cost will vary depending on size of house, etc but I can tell you I converted to gas in the fall of 2013 and last year, probably one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time, I was able to heat my 1600 sq foot house for about $800-900.
If I was still using oil (my oil furnace was about 30 years old and maintained every year) I would have gone through about 4 x 275 gal deliveries at about $800 per delivery or $3200.
Cost will vary depending on size of house, etc but I can tell you I converted to gas in the fall of 2013 and last year, probably one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time, I was able to heat my 1600 sq foot house for about $800-900.
If I was still using oil (my oil furnace was about 30 years old and maintained every year) I would have gone through about 4 x 275 gal deliveries at about $800 per delivery or $3200.
These numbers are similar to my numbers ( about $1100 for gas vs about $2400 for oil, I never burned the entire last tank of the winter). An additional bonus (we also had a 30 yo oil burner) was my electric bill went down because of the elimination of the oil pump. Anybody who has access to natural gas and buys a new oil burner is making a poor financial decision.
The pros and cons that folks are putting out there are definitely worth some thought, but basing a decision on whether or not to buy a house because it has gas or oil heat is kind of oversimplifying things in my opinion. I will say that if I had natural gas it would be tough to justify continuing to burn wood right now as I'm paying about $3.25 per million Btu for firewood (I cut and process myself, but I peg my cost at $50 a cord). At PSEG's current rate, gas is about $5.62 per million Btu not counting delivery, taxes, fees, etc... However, I don't live in an area served by natural gas, which is not necessarily a bad thing either.
If you search, there is a detail listing of oil advantages. Do a similar search as to why NG has the advantage. Of course, each of the sources of information will be biased but you can make a personal choice based on both sources. It highly depends on your locale as well. I think we are lucky in NJ that many places have a choice other than electricity.
My point was that the OP is automatically assuming that an oil furnace equipped house is automatically a "downside" and is already ascertaining the associated costs of conversion. IMO, this is the wrong way to go about it. One should determine the age, condition, and efficiency of the entire system and weigh it against the cost of conversion. We don't even know if the tank is above or below ground. Also, oil furnaces have come a long way; especially in terms of clean burn and efficiency. Its natural for those not familiar with this type of heating to have pre-conceived notions of how dirty and inefficient oil heating.... similar to the bad reputation of burning coal for heat. These are all out-dated reputations of the past.
I recommend getting a full and educated picture before deciding on whether or not the oil furnace should even a concern for the home purchase decision. If the oil furnace is still in good working order, I would rather spend the money on updating the home's insulation for a more immediate savings in heating costs.
My personal experience ( Your mileage may vary )
I've been with the same local provider for 15 years and the previous owners for more than 20 years. From what I gather, so did their previous owners ( One of the signatures on service chart was the grandfather of the current serviceman). Its a locally owned and family run business. Our relationship with them is 100%. They have never failed me. When I was broke they worked with me financially. When the system was broke, they showed up within the hour. When the system failed at 2am in the morning after returning home from a winter trip to introduce my newborn son to his grandparents, the service guy showed up with in the hour after we noticed the home wasn't warming up. Three times we needed service in the first 6 years (or so) were on the original old boiler.
When the original furnace failed (it well pass its lifetime... they rigged it to work temporarily), I had a great experience with them for the system update. The entire install took 6 hours with two teams working in parallel; Roth tank installers, furnace installers. The furnace install was very professional and clean. They also installed an indirect water heater in a separate zone for more consistent hot water separated from my home's hot water baseboard heat. The new furnace installation was financed through them as well... very reasonable. New system has been flawless but of course its still relatively new.
I have an extra tank. I can shop and stock pile at market prices. All above oil tanks. My insurance is next to nothing because I have above ground roth tanks.
For my main tank, I also have an agreement with them to lock in my prices. The price per gallon delivered can be lower but not higher than the agreed price.
My personal opinion is that its safer. You can drop a match into a bucket of fuel... it won't light.
There's more.. but those are more of the "soft" reasons (not having to deal with a utility company)... other reasons are again explained on various websites.
Things that I don't like.
You can hear the furnace go on and off.
When power goes out, I loose my heat. No power water nor fuel pump. I'm currently researching how much it would take to wire up a generator. NG only needs a pilot light which you can manage without power.
You have figure out what to do with your cooking range. My neighbor has gas piped in just for the range (oil for heating). I'm currently electric but I'm more of a grill type guy anyways.
yeah, i searched and i still don't see any advantage of oil vs gas other than oil furnaces are less expensive....but then more expensive to maintain, fuel, and less efficient...
One of the best postings I have ever seen on here. I also have a 13 year business relationship with my oil company (I did have a problem a month or so ago, and they had the problem fixed within 3 hours of my phone call....on a SUNDAY morning. Try that with the gas company), and I have a very efficient oil burner. Everyone thought paying thousands to convert over to natural gas was a 'no brainer'. Not this guy. And now us 'oil guys' who didn't convert will have some laughs as price per barrel is about half of what it used to be, and will probably stay low for years.
Any plumber can service an oil or gas furnace. all anyone needs, irrespective if their furnace is oil or gas, is a reliable service person. both types of owners can purchase a service contract (often necessary for oil furnaces, but optional for gas).
and thwe price of natural gas has dropped 36% this year. so, gas and oil are both cheap, but gas is still cheaper, and you use less of it, than oil.
oil prices won't stay low for long though. a year, maybe two. already US producers are reducing their rigs.
Cost will vary depending on size of house, etc but I can tell you I converted to gas in the fall of 2013 and last year, probably one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time, I was able to heat my 1600 sq foot house for about $800-900.
If I was still using oil (my oil furnace was about 30 years old and maintained every year) I would have gone through about 4 x 275 gal deliveries at about $800 per delivery or $3200.
my neighbor in a similar size house, but more recently built than mine (his is 60's, mine was late 20's - so he probably has better insulation/sealing) spent $5,000 last year on oil and was frantically searching this year to convert. he converted. even if you cut his spending in half, for the drop in prices, he'll still likely save at least $1,000/yr, meaning in 5 years he'll break even. that assumes no increase in the price of oil in 5 years.
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