The furnace dude just left, our oil furnace is a gonner and is dangerous to use. So I need all your gals advice. If you had to replace your furnace, what would you replace it with? Oil runs about $2 a gal here, I dont know how much it would have cost to operate full time (we moved in in May) vrs gas, vrs electric furnace. I am heating w/ wood and space heaters right now. Our house has 3500 square feet built in 1920. I probably wont be able to replace the furnace until next spring when we take out a home equity loan to do the exterior paint, replace the upstairs bath and remodel the kitchen. Oh the joys of home ownership.

(And no the furnace isnt repairable, it is at least 50 yrs old.) TIA

By Kaye on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 07:57 pm:

We have always had gas furnaces. They work great and seem to be cheap compared to electric.

By Imamommyx4 on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 08:12 pm:

Electric heat pumps work well as long as outside temp is above 38. Gas heat pumps are great when it is colder. A heat/air conditioning friend of mine was telling us about a new one. It is a combo that will work on gas or heat. It is a little more expensive but worth it. That is what he had recently put in his house for this winter. I haven't personally checked them out since ours is onlyabout 5 years.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 08:26 pm:

I have gas, and converted from oil when I bought this housein 1992. IMO, the cost of both oil and gas for heating is going to go nowhere but up. The advantages to gas are that it is much cleaner (with no smell), which means once you have your chimney cleaned after you convert, you seldom have to have it cleaned again unless you use a fireplace a lot. You also never have to worry about arranging for a delivery or missing one, and you can get rid of that big oil tank in your basement. Gas furnaces these days are very small, compared to old furnaces. Whichever you get, if you have forced hot air think seriously about getting a humidifier installed with the new furnace. If it were me, I'd be checking Consumer Reports and other reliable sources of comparative information. I certainly wouldn't get electric - I think that is possibly the most expensive way to heat.

By Colette on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 08:58 pm:

We had oil, and converted to natural gas when we renovated the house. Basically, ditto Ginny.

By Pamt on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 09:26 pm:

No advice. I live in southern Louisiana which means that we get to turn off the a/c for about 1 month of "winter" and throw a few logs on the fire for ambiance.

Seriously...I don't have much experience to compare, but for the 6 years we lived in MO we had a gas furnace and it kept the upstairs nice and toasty. It was also very affordable and we lived in a large, drafty 100+ y/o house.

By Missmudd on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 10:51 pm:

Well I am thinking we will probably go w/ gas, but as an added wrinkle, gas hasnt gotten to our house yet. We live in a rural town and while the main gas line was just put in it may be a while (as in years because they are having problems w/ the contractor) before it gets on our street. We are thinking that converting the heat, water, and stove all to natural gas might be the way to go. I used to have natural gas about 10 yrs ago for heat and I seem to remember that that it was very reasonable but now I have heard that it has gone up considerably. Our house definately has a few issues w/ weatherproofing, but luckily it rarely gets below 30 or over 85 so I am hoping that we will be able to weather this winter and see how it goes.

By Tink on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 11:02 pm:

We have always had natural gas and it is super reasonable. I don't think anyone in this area has oil. Electric is super expensive. Our gas bill is only about $30/month in the winter and $8 in the summer.

By Cybermommyx4 on Tuesday, November 9, 2004 - 11:22 pm:

We have oil with forced hot water (which of course provides hot water, too, lol!) We spend less than $1000 per year to heat the house (and most of that is on the hot water usage with 6 of us showering/bathing daily, laundry, etc.) A lot depends on the demand, and on the efficiency of the unit you buy. But, as Ginny said, oil prices are going nowhere but UP.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 07:03 am:

Kristen, when you can, think about a variety of ways to weatherproof. One thing I did was have insulation blown into the walls and under the roof of an old house when I lived in Germantown, and it made a big difference. In the meantime, you can caulk around windows, put plastic over windows on the inside, and check around for cracks, drafts, etc. One thing I did was put hunks of insulation up against the basement wall between the rafters, where the stone foundation wall ended and the frame wall construction began, and that made a big difference in the basement and in the cold air coming up from the basement.

By Missmudd on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 12:22 pm:

Good idea about the basement, I really didnt think about that, we have a daylight basement and the windows down there have NO insulation and are held closed w/ a close hanger (no kidding). We did buy the plastic stuff that you put around the windows and use a blow dryer to seal, I really have to look at the doorways to see if anything can be done about them.

I talked w/ NW Natural yesterday, they said that if I put in the gas lines w/in 3 months of them turning on the gas on our street they will pay to have the lines put in if I hook up one appliance to their service. They expect to have the gas going by summer but are hoping sooner. If I cant afford the furnace at that time even if I hook up a h20 heater to it that will save me the cost of having the whole thing done. So kinda good news, I can last one more winter being the tender of the home fires.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 05:58 pm:

We have wood frame windows in the basement, and they are held shut with either a hook and eye or one of those bolt fasteners. Several years ago we had frames built that fit on the outside and put heavy plastic in them. But heavy plastic inside is good too. As for the doorways, you can put draft blockers at the bottom of the doors. Where you have a wood floor, there are draft blockers that fit under the door and block the draft on both sides. Check the catalog from www.improvementscatalog.com. For other doors, I put a draft blocker at the bottom of the door and just pick it up and hang it on the doorknob when I need to open the door. And I got the foam strip with adhesitive to put on the door frame so that it just covers the edge of the door and keeps drafts out. Check out Home Depot.

One thing I really love - I got an electric mattress pad from Sears - I did a quick check and Walmart has it too - I am breaking up this internet address so it doesn't stretch the post - just take out the spaces:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp? product_id=3179539&sourceid= 0100000012231186302498&dest=9999999997#long_descr - from $42 for twin size to $90 for king size (single control for twin & full size, dual controls for queen or king size). I love this device. I turn it on about a half hour before I get into bed and my bed is toasty warm all night, and I can have the thermostat turned down really low at night because my bed is really warm. It doesn't run up the electric bill noticeably either. As far as I can tell, it is quite safe. I have used one for about 7 years with no problems - machine wash, drape over a clothes line to dry. It's a good investment - even when you get your new furnace you can keep your thermostat lower at night if the beds themselves are toasty warm.

I REALLY hate being cold, so I do all sorts of things to keep warm. I also hate wasting money, so I try to find relatively cheap ways to keep from being cold.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 09:16 pm:

We do okay in our bed with 2 blankets and sometimes the quilt, too. We turn our furnace way down at night, so we need to be cozy. If we left the furnace at 68, we would all be too hot!