Contractors and homeowners are switching away from fuel oil to gain efficiency comfort and reduced maintenance with propane or natural gas furnaces.
Replace oil furnace with propane.
Oil costs are higher than propane so using oil means higher heating costs each winter.
When replacing an older furnace it is possible to consider switching to a different fuel type though most homeowners stay with what they already have to make a change some variables should be considered.
Fuel oil is not the most efficient or the most environmentally benign heating fuel and replacing an outdated oil heating system can go a long.
So if it s time to replace your old oil burning system you might be wondering if it makes sense to switch.
Since 2002 oil heat has averaged 30 to 50 more than gas every year.
Oil furnace replacement cost.
One gallon of propane burned with perfect efficiency would generate a mere 91 333 btus of heat.
First it is important to note that each of these fuels generates heat differently.
A new heat pump would cost a homeowner 25 600 to buy and operate over 15 years compared to 26 900 for a replacement furnace that continues burning heating oil or 39 200 for propane.
Without a natural gas source most homeowners turn to either propane gas or oil furnaces for their heating needs.
Oil furnaces are another option for heating your home when gas is not available.
They ve been used longer than gas or electric furnaces and are common in the northeast where there s a lot of oil.
One gallon of heating oil burned with 100 efficiency would generate 138 690 btu of heat.
Don t compare the costs of your old oil furnace with the values of a new propane system.
As oil to propane boiler conversions become increasingly popular in the northeast a similar trend is spreading in the forced air heating market.
The oil furnace unit costs slightly more with total costs of about 4 800 installed.
Due to current oil prices however they are considered obsolete.
How to replace oil heaters with greener alternatives.
Oil furnaces cost anywhere from 6 750 to 10 000 or more to install.
All heating systems run the risk of carbon monoxide emissions.
However owners of older chimney vented oil fired furnaces don t necessarily face the same safety concerns posed by natural gas and propane since oil fired boilers and forced air furnaces tend to be much less likely to produce carbon monoxide.
However you should use that baseline to work out whether the replacement of your boiler is worth the money.
The year before when oil prices peaked oil heating cost an average of 2 000.
Natural gas was again around 900.
For the same size propane furnace prices are around 4 000.