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Heating Options?
I currently have a Ultimate - Plus Oil Boiler furnace. It is 25 years old and have been told that it does not have much life left to it. I am researching my options. Right now I see my options are to replace with a similar type oil furnace, replace with a gas fired furnace or a wood fired furnace. My last heating oil bill was for $525 for 6 weeks. I am looking for any option that would bring down my heating bill and last for at least 20yrs or more.
Any input is appreciated.
Views: 118
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lair Tienter on -
I have a lot of neighbors that have installed wood burners both outside and inside. That is not the way to go because they can never leave their house for more than a few hours from fall to spring. One neighbors wife quit her job to take care of the heat. As far as petroleum fuel goes I think natural gas is the cleanest and the only one that has a lower price now than it did a few years ago. Not much lower but it hasn't gone up as much as the rest have. I'm not sure what the future holds for heating costs but I think I would go with natural gas. I hope you find a solution. Lair
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Permalink Reply by Scott on -
Lair - Thanks for your reply. My house is about 3000sf and was last renovated around 1950 when my grandparents moved in. I have been using the house as an office but plan on moving in soon which is the reason for the upgrade. I found - 3 - MAX CADDY - Wood or combination furnace (oil and/or electric) It uses oil and electric as backup. When wood is used up it switches over to oil or electric. We don't have availability of Natural Gas here but do have LP gas. Only problem is it is about the same price as Oil.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Hendrickson on -
I would consider that pretty cheap. We are in NM and our gas bill may get to that high for this, our first winter in our renovated 2500sqft house. We had a new boiler installed and replumbed the old steam system for hot water.
Gas will be cheap for quite a while and may be the way to go. It is cleaner than wood and oil and that should be considered as well.
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Permalink Reply by Franz on -
$100 a week for oil is insane unless you're heating a mansion in Masena and getting robbed for oil.
Where are you located, how many square feet are you heating, what is the building heat loss, what type of radiation?
Why are you not looking at the option of either finding an honest boiler service man who knows something about OIL boilers, or learning about oil fired boilers yourself?
Unless the Ultimate has been subjected to a sledge hammer "tech" it has at least 20 more years of life.
Does your boiler have a Flame Retention head burner?
Is the firing rate correct for the load?
When was the mud last drained from the boiler?
When was the boiler last properly cleaned by a craftsman who WANTED to work on an oil fired boiler?
How many coats of paint are insulating the house from the radiation?
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