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For the people up north you need to ditch oil and go with a Heat Pump.. We have a American Standard 20 Heritage twin recip compressor and Mitsubishi

Hyper-Heat Heat pump here.The A/S is a 4 ton the Mitsubishi is a 2 ton unit..

The Mitsubishi can heat without back up heat till its -15 F which is great..

The other night when it got down to about 0 I turned off the American Standard well I turned it to fan setting and turned up the Mitsubishi to 71..

It had no problems keeping the rest of the house at 65 degress ..The A/S was still heating but it would have to turn on the back up coils every now and

then to maintain it. The Mitsubishi still had 100+ air  coming out of the air handler even at 0 ..

Heat pumps are not like they used to be were they cant heat below 40 degress..The A/S did not change to the 4 ton compressor till it was 20 outside ..

I don't see how you folks up north can afford heating oil it costs way to much..
 
Here in the new townhouse:

We have a Bryant forced air furnace with a high efficieny burner system. It also is tied to an A/C system of the same make. So far the system is working well, the house is nice and cozy.
We also have a Heat and Glow NG fireplace which heats the house so well that the furnace does not run while it is on.
WK78.
 
The Lennox heat pump I have is AWFUL!!!Would LOVE to replace it with gas heat.Right now the thing is running full time to keep up.It has been recently checked and refrigerant levels topped up.the unit makes an EXCELLENT AC in the summer.BUT--the cost estimates of replacing my system would be 6-8 grand.Just have to put up with the inadequite heatpump and my portable heater for now.Heat pump tech has improved,though-those little Mitshubishi units work well as heaters or coolers.Have several here at work.Yes,would be nice at home!There is one small house in my neighborhood that has one.Next to it is an old Amana unit.
 
This building is still half-full of through-wall heatpumps from 2000. Yes, the ones that stop working at 39F and the resistance coil doesn't come on until the room temp is 10* below the setpoint unless outside temp is below 30. For those 10 degrees the thing just blows cold air. Whoever wrote that firmware should have his fingers surgically removed. With a chainsaw.
 
The coil heater in my unit was not connected.sort of wished it was.Maybe the installer of my unit should have had his COLD fingers cut off with your chainsaw-or I could use my bandsaw!Both tools are essentually similar-endless cutting loop!
 
Im no

heat pump fan, my experience with them has been, the ones made in the 60s and 70s are worlds ahead of the stuff made today..2 examples, A good friend installed a International heat pump in 1967, it ran until the early 90s , he had the same company install a new Janitrol , that installed the International, the international ran all those years with very little attention, low electric bills and a warm house, the Janitrol was a constant money pit with very high electric bills and a drafty cold house...after 2 years of this, he changed to gas...Example 2, in 76 my Uncle built a new house,he used the then new foam insulation,thermopane windows, and generally high quality energy saving construction, he installed a Carrier heat pump that was wonderful, about 5 years ago lightning got it, he had another one that was a very expensive Carrier that was the highest rated seer at the time...My Aunt and Uncle despise it, their electric bill went up over 20 percent and despite repeated service calls, it has cost much more to run, with a most uncomfortable house, drafty and cold unless you kick on the strip heat, Don and I put a heat pump in our last house, it was a Payne, in the 2 years we had it our electric bill ran 150 to 250 dollars a month...in a 950 square foot house!!,,,No thanks, for heat give me FIRE!
 
I had my mind made up that I was going to have geothermal HVAC installed as part of the renovation project. I got three bids, and they all came in between 35 and 40 thousand. I changed my mind and didn't get it, but have heard prices are down the last year or so.
 
Geothermal..

They uit this in in our new Assisted Living building at work...it cost a fortune to install, and averages at least two or three very expensive service calls a month, I think people get sold on how much they are going to save, when they are never told how much its going to cost to install and maintain, Yes baseboard electric heat costs more to run, but it runs for 50 or more years with virtually no upkeep, A regular old fashioned standing pilot natural draft gas furnace will use more gas, but it also has many less things to go wrong, and therefore costs much less to keep up , these new generation HVAC companies are interested in 1 thing, selling you something they know will initially make them lots of money, and will keep you spending money on it for years to come,The oil furnace guys try to sell you a new high efficiency burner for your 50 year old furnace, dumb, because the burner you have is quieter, much better built and safer...it goes on and on..
 
Joe~

Thanks so much for the  pictures.  It is a single burner with a single manifold burner? (Like a basketball when it fires up?)

See video attached.



This unit will outlive you.

It is in beautiful shape. 

Thanks for the photo's.

Brent 

 

 
 
Now THAT!

Is a REAL furnace, those are called up shot burners, they are cast iron and will truly last forever, much more dependable and quiet than the junk made today.
 
Yep it's just like that one in the video.  You wouldn't believe how good that thing looks up inside and in the exchanger.  It very well may still be running when I'm an old man.
 
I have to admit I have mixed feelings about modern vs old furnaces. A part of me is intrigued by the idea of being able to get more heat for less money using a modern furnace. But I shudder at the thought of how much can go wrong in a modern furnace, and how much it could cost to fix. If it can be fixed. I can easily imagine control board failure, with a NLA part in 10 years...

Past that, one thing that I don't think is considered as much as it should be is how much energy savings will actually take place in a specific situation. Houses vary. Climate varies hugely across the US. Usage varies. It seems entirely possible that the cost of replacing a furnace in some cases (e.g. well insulated house, mild climate, conservative heating) won't return meaningful payback as for energy use.
 
Agree John~

I would think that you would have to keep the system for at least 15 to 20 years to break even with the "savings".  And if the unit (condenser or furnace) should need service or replacement you would then be in the hole so to speak on your original goal of the investment. 

 

You hear the talk from the scam artist that new gas furnaces heat up the heat exchanger much faster.  I always reply that the older cast iron heat exchangers took longer to cool off so you would be getting the heat with the gas burner being off. 

 

I grew up in a home in New Orleans that had a 1960's Carrier Two-Stage Furnace.  It was the first ever Two-Stage Gas Furnace made.  It was built like a tank!  When the original Carrier Condenser failed in 2006 my Dad decided to replace the whole system with a new Trane System.   Their power bill went up considerably in both the Summer and Winter.   My Dad was so pissed because the Trane replacement cost a small fortune and the compressor had to be replaced twice under warranty.   

 

 
 
>I would think that you would have to keep the system for at least 15 to 20 years to break even with the "savings". And if the unit (condenser or furnace) should need service or replacement you would then be in the hole so to speak on your original goal of the investment.

And I think it's interesting to note that IIRC 15 years is the quoted life expectancy of a new furnace. So basically it's quite likely one will get done paying off the old one with energy savings just in time to have the fun and joy of replacing it, and starting the cycle all over again.
 
Thermo Pride Today

I find it interesting to see that Thermo Pride still builds the 80% Gas Furnace with the same specifications as the vintage furnaces of yesterday.  The only thing that I notice that is different is the Burner.  They call it a "Wayne" Burner.  I looked it up and it looks a lot like an oil burner.  I am curious how it works.

 

http://thermopride.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/PGL-Specs-on-Web.pdf
 
Thermo Pride Video

Lifetime heat exchanger warranty.  Transferable if you sell you home. 

 

 
I've lived in a few houses here in Ireland that were heated with oil. The only downside to it is having to remember to re-order the oil! I forgot once or twice and woke up to a cold house as I'd become too used to natural gas.

The systems here are normally hydronic (water filled radiators). So, you'd have a pressure-jet oil boiler about the size of a washing machine. The newer ones are often now condensing boilers and only require very minimal flues and are often housed outside the house in a self-contained unit.

A lot of homes here that were built with oil-fired heating in mind would have a small boiler room outside. The very oldest type often has the boiler room built as a small shed, physically separated from the house as this was required in the older building regulations due to a perception of fire risk.

We don't burn fuel oil though (illegal due to possibilities of emissions) so, it's normally "Jet A1 kero"which is a form of kerosine or aviation fuel.

This is an English plumber's video looking through an outdoor Grant Engineering boiler. They're Ireland's leading manufacturer of this kind of gear.



http://grantengineering.ie/high-eff...cts/best-oil-boiler-brand/outdoor-oil-boiler/

These things go up to 240,000 Btu/h
 
Our house had a '68 Chrysler Air Temp, and I ok with having it for a few winter and update as needed..

The first few weeks, of having it, wasn't happy with it.. It was way oversized for the house.. So, this is what we had.. turn it on, and took some time for it to heat up and run the blower.. Once it was going, blast of heat out of the vents, and really could feel the cloud of heat coming down to the family room downstairs!!! Our bedroom is at the end above the garage, and it was cold. As it was oversized, it ran a short cycle. The gaas budget bill was $120 a month.

The fan motor was getting pretty loud, and gave out. Re called the dealer in and get a bid, and house called for 60k BTU furnace. We installed a two stage Trane XV90, and what a HUGE change in comfort in the house.. The furnace runs 1st stage most of the time, and temps in the house is much more even, and longer run time now lets the bedrooms get warmer. Our gas budget plan dropped down to $70 a month.
 
Sad from the beginning...

Jay,

What really sucks was the original install.

There was really nothing wrong with your Chrysler Unit.  If they would have sized it correct from the beginning you would not have had all the expense of replacing it. 

I loved the old Chrysler furnace cabinets.  They were neat colors...on top of being great furnaces!

Many are still going strong today.  It is all about the install.  So many people trust installers that don't have  a clue what they are talking about.

Scary.

B
 
Iron Fireman

Made a great oil furnace in the 40s and 50s called the Vortex, the basic design was a standard high pressure oil burner that had the nozzle turned up instead of straight...in other words the blast tube of the burner pointed up, right in the center of the firebox, it made for a clean burning beautiful flame, in about 1960 they introduced a contraption that was supposed to be the most efficient cleanest burning oil furnace ever made.....it COULD be, but only if set up with combustion testing instruments,it had a big fan about like a upright vacuum fan, except steel and about 14 or 15 inches in diameter,it was mounted on the flue of the heat exchanger, basically it sucked the air over the fire instead of blowing it over the fire as in most all other burners, great efficiency, but let it get out of adjustment and soot city!!!I serviced many of them, I was taught the right .ay to service them by Mr James T Jones who ran the Furnace service for Barringer oil Co and was a Iron Firemen Dealer
 
But my VERY FAVORITE

Oil burner of all is the vaporizing or pot type burner, the type with a carburetor or oil control valve, the oil is heated to the boiling point and the vapors burn a beautiful blue color like a gas flame, these were used mostly in oil heaters and vintage floor furnaces, although Perfection made a large house furnace called the Superflex that used a pot type burner, SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE!!
 
Brent, Yeah too bad in a way, but I'v been super pleased with the Trane we have now, and it's quiet.. Lot of the older furnaces around here were oversized back in the days, so bigger wasn't always better.
 
Jay no reinstal photo

I / we would had see some re-install  pictures or videos of your new unit.

I truly think that you would have been okay with a re-venting situation.

It was your call...and the rest is history.

I hope it all works out for your adventure.

Wish you would have taken photo's of the full change out.

B

 

 

 

 
 

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