oil heat OR natural gas ???

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gregm

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THanks to all who offered interesting views/feedback on my post about types of oil burners and efficiency that I put out there a couple weeks ago. The info is helpful :) Now the next thing is whereas I will need a new boiler and burner in the next year or two, maybe put off another three. Do I stick with oil or convert to natural gas. The original pipe from the street does come into the basement but they told me they would have to "re-line" it or it would be like sliding a new "flue" into a chimney. I know gas does not necessarily heat at the same BTU rate as oil but its definately quieter and cleaner. I would need a water heater where now I have a "tankless" ($500 replacement last year) on my present 20 year old boiler. I like oil because I am familiar with it, I grew up with it. You can choose from MANY different suppliers or service techs for your boiler/furnace. Gas there is ONE supplier period and your at their mercy. I don't know which would be cheaper. Fewer if any cleanings with gas vs annually with oil. My mom was always afraid of natural gas because of the possibility of an explosion and you do hear of them every once in a great while where a house blows up around here. I hate to say it but I hear a story like that at least once a year. Oil is still a VERY common source of home heating in the northeast/New England. Lots of towns / areas do not have natural gas lines. Although a lot of people use propane too. I do think if I converted my stove, dryer and heat/hot water source to gas I would spend more money overall then on oil and electricity for stove and dryer. (my electric is cheap) Anyways, the jury is still "out" for me on what to do.
 
I grew up in a house that was built in the 50's by a gas company employee, as were most of the houses in the neighborhood. That meant EVERYTHING that could be gas, was gas - right down to the gaslights that were in front of every house, and which lit the street at night. Needless to say, I'm comfortable with natural gas.

When we bought this house it had oil, and the furnace was the original 1955 oil burner. The oil company wouldn't service it anymore, so we decided to convert to gas. The gas company would do it for free, and we figured that it would be a good investment, as the neighborhood is yuppifying, and having gas is a plus (so the yuppie's can have their big Wolf gas ranges ;-)

The new furnace is a dream (not that a new oil burner wouldn't be also) and I like having a gas range, so it worked for us. Plus, we no longer have to worry about our heating oil fuel tank: it is has been officially decommissioned and registered as such with the state (That's a fairly big deal out here)

Other people have far more informed opions than I, but we are very happy with natural gas.
 
When I was a child we lived in Connecticut. The kitchen range was natural gas; the furnace was oil. Don't know about the water heater.

Out here in California it's been gas heat all the way, as well as gas water. And I prefer gas for cooking, as well.

Homes blowing up here from accidental natural gas leaks are pretty rare. It is an occasional choice for suicide, but I understand that most attempts fail at asphyxiation; any injury would be due to an explosion. I would classify that as a deliberate act, though, not accidental.

Most home fires are apparently started at the stove, usually an unattended pot or a grease fire. That can occur with either gas or electric, but I suppose an open flame might be more likely to ignite a gross error with oil.

There is some concern about natural gas leaks as a result of an earthquake. In general most people are educated about where the gas shutoff valve is for the home and how to turn it off. After the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a neighbor's 8 year old kid shut off their gas valve... an unnecessary precaution because the quake wasn't strong enough in our neighborhood. Better safe than sorry, though, and a sign that even kids know how to deal with such a problem. And there are simple devices one can put on the gas meter to shut off the flow in case a major quake is detected.

I remember the smell of heating oil... it stank. But I didn't notice it in the home, just in the basement around the furnace.

There was a news story a while back of a homeowner who had converted from oil to gas, and had the tank removed from his basement. Unfortunately the oil company goofed one day, and pumped 200 gallons of fuel oil into his basement. The home became unihabitable due to the fumes. So if you convert from oil to gas, don't forget to cap off the oil delivery pipe inside the basement.
 
Oil heat is prepaid.
Supply guaranteed in your tank, no disruption if a pipe in the street breaks.
You can buy from ANYONE you choose.
Oil can't explode.
Oil is avaiable (in your tank) when the temp outside is in the teens~ gas suppliers struggle to meet demand at those temps.

The new Riello oil-burners burn clean, and avoid a yearly cleaning. The cost of one is higher for a few years then the oher is higher. So cost-wise they run neck-in-neck. Traditiaonly thinking states gas costs more bacause it is claner. Bottom line, IMHO not worth converting unless it will be done for FREE- boiler, gas line, everything. Even then, permits and inspections are a PITA.

One benefit of gas: If you have steam heat, a milli-volt gas system allows you to have heat during a blackout. Ditto a traditional gas-fired storage-type domestic hot water heater.

BTW=> There are oil- burner heads that burn BOTH fuels available for domestic (home) use. Oil companies however get freaky in that you must buy all of your oil from one supplier to be able to get a service contract. Using gas and oil may cause complaints from the oil supplier or refual to supply the stuff.
 
Greg,
My parents did the conversion to gas about 4 yrs ago. They built the house in 1949. The original forced air oil furnace was replaced about 1960. It just couldn't be fixed anymore. The replacement was still going strong at 40+ yrs, but they finally decided that they wanted whole house air. Never had any up to this point, not even a window unit.
They put in a ultra hi-eff furnace and central air with hi-eff air cleaner and humidifier. They've been very happy with their decision to go gas. They did keep the electric water heater, it was only a year old, and the dryer and stove. Mom likes electric for those. But, they did have gas piped for each one should they change their mind later on. I guess it could happen, they're only in their mid-80's and still pretty healthy at this point.

Dad's neighbor did have his gas line "re-lined" about the same time. Kind of like inserting a catheter, but the pain was to his wallet.

Sounds like you have some time to investigate your options before you make a decision. Hope it works out well for you.
Bill
 
I am most familiar with gas

heat, and like it. Currently, I have gas forced air heat, gas heated hot water, and a gas dryer. I miss gas cook top cooking!

My grandmother (she of the '56 Kenmore) had oil heat and an electric water heater. I don't know if it was a bad installation, or what, but during the heating season, there was a faint, yet clearly detectable, whiff of oil everywhere in her house (forced air.)
Maybe I noticed it beacause we didn't have that at home.

Residential natural gas explosions are statistically rare unto nearly insignificant.

There has never been a time when there wasn't sufficient mains pressure for heat, hot water, and cooking, even in the very brutal winters of 1977 and 1978. In Ohio, heavy industry was asked to cut back hours.

We also have deregulated markets for gas here, and you can choose your supplier/plan price, and lock in a price. I'd have to look it up, but I'm paying not a huge amount per thousand cubic feet.

From what you have said, Greg, however, I would be inclined to go with a Riello equipped oil fired boiler, because of your recent purchase of the new hot water coil, that is, if it can be added to a new boiler.

Just my experience.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Sudsmaster's post reminded me of something freaky that happened a while back.

A friend of John's bought a really cool house in a neighborhood with striking views of Puget Sound. He had the whole place redone, including the oil furnace (they couldn't get gas because of the geography of the neighborhood, which rises dramatically from the shore)

Anyway, something went horribly wrong while he was out of town for two weeks and somehow a mist of heating oil was sprayed throughout the house. All of the floor and window coverings had to be replaced, and the whole place repainted. It was a god-awful mess.

I'm not using that as an arguement against oil - the equivalent sort of thing happening with gas would have probably destroyed the house - but it was just so freakish I had to share.
 
We had a house once that had oil forced air heat. My wife said it was dirty. She said the house needed dusting more often that the previous house. In the winter time when you walked in you could smell it in the air, not strong but enough to make you notice.
In this house we have a gas forced air furnace. It's a small little thing, but does a good job and we have an electronic air cleaner on it to make dusting very infrequent. You can't smell the gas.
 
The thing is that oil is prepaid and can be bought from where you like to. But you have to pay it in one go. Gas you pay every month.
Oil heating is more expensive as you need a tank, pump, etc.. When the tank gets a leakage it can poison the whole environment - and that is super expensive to decontaminate!
I don't know how it is in the States, but here in Germany the gas-price is linked to the oil-price with one year difference in between; the gas-price increases or drops with the oil-price one year later.
Gas is much more environmental friendly; the carbon-dioxyd balance is better with gas than with oil.
The way the central-heating is giving the warmth to the house varies. Convection (hot air) as well as underfloor-heating is worst as it stirs up a lot of dust in the house that also puts a lot of strain to your respiratory tract!
Best is radiation, like open fires or tiles-ovens or flat radiators (best when painted dark or even black) that only warm up the air a bit but gives the most warmth via radiation to the room - alternatively you could use baseboard/footrail-heating that heats up the walls via a thin layer of hot air from the footrail, floating over the wall-surface to heat them up and makes them radiate.
Ralf
 
Anyway, something went horribly wrong while he was out of to

WOW that IS freakish.

There is an ignition sensor (light detector) on an oil-burner head that normally puts a burner into shutdown/safety mode within, I believe, less than a minute, should there be a problem.

It is ineresting to note that the "old-fashioned" igntion transformers that converted 110v a/c to something like 10,000 volts to produce an ignition spark across a large gap are now electronic. BOO HISS! From what repair-personnel have said YUKKERS! Said to be no longevity on that item.

Also, the igntion used to be able to be set for "intermittent" or "constant-on" Intermittent meaning a spark for the first minute or so, then the device shuts-itself off and the flame self-ignites. Not good if there is water or other contaminants in the line and the flame goes out mid-burn. Normally the flame-sensor cathces this and shuts the works down. "Intermittent" was thought to prolong the life of the equipment.

The older units did have puff-backs and other smoke-related issues. This all seems to be gone with today's newer technology.
 
thanks all

all of your info/feedback is helpful. I still have plenty of time and I do need to replace the boiler itself whereas it has a very minor leak but most (95%)of the seeping water evaporates due to the heat of the boiler itself. I also replaced the "primary control", and the igniter in my first year living here, plus the "tankless" hot water heater. So I kind of want to get my moneys worth so to speak before I go and buy a whole new thing. I will pull that ignitor and primary control off and sell them on ebay if I do in fact go with a new boiler sooner vs later. I never smell oil except for a very subtle bit right near the boiler. It is noisy too and I have a small house, for such a small boiler, it sounds like a freight train, LOL. Either way your going to pay. Gas or oil, they do compete. I may switch to gas, because I really love to cook with gas. Who knows, I find equal pros and cons either side. I am leaning towards gas though, maybe next year. Right now oil here is at $2.49/gal ........... cost me about $1,200.00 last year to heat and hot water. I thought that was a lot considering the house is small, insulated, new windows and the thermostat was set at 62 all winter. Plus with a tankless its like getting "free" hot water in the winter. I am anticipating it costing me at least $1,500 this heating season from SEPT. thru APR or MAY depending on how cold for how long. I try not to turn on the heat until late OCT or early NOV
 
My new boiler saved me nearly 50% in heating bills every year. I paid about $4,500 installed [oil to oil]. It was done in one day.

It was (and still is) a steam producing oil-fired system with a tankless (instantaneous) hot water producing coil for the taps.

My house was built in 1946. The boiler I found in there was a HOMART (distributed by Sears). The neighbors say the house was coal-heated at first and this boiler may have been converted to be oil-fired. My instincs however say it was not the orignal boiler, nor was it converted.
 
I'm sure you can tell I'm from the south, but what kind of oil do you people burn in those tanks? Diesel? Crude oil? If it's DIESEL, you can make your own.
 
But don't we keep on hearing -- Someday the world will run out of oil!

I would consider the natural gas boiler with a water heater that is part of the boiler (it's an extra heating zone). When I went to technical school we had an old oil burner. Never having grown up with one, I though it sounded like we were going to go to the moon! Maybe new ones aren't so loud or you get used to it. Maybe it's not that way with boilers but high efficiency gas furnaces have plastic exhaust pipes that go out the side of a house so that the flue will not be an issue, another reason to get the integrated water heater. As for the other appliances, you would not have to switch over right away but it might be a good idea to have the gas piping run over to them when you get the new gas boiler installed.
 
gas

If I just want gas installed to my house for lets say just my stove or dryer ? $2,000.00 install charge WHICH would be WAIVED if I buy a new gas boiler and convert my sole heat source to gas.
 
One of the nice things about oil is that it is stored on-site. You don't need to worry about a supply of fuel in a natural disaster. If you can provide your burner with a few hundred watts of power (do-able with a small generator) you can heat your home. What you need to decide however is if you suffer more power outages than gas outages. Around here, power goes out on a weekly basis during the summer (not too much of an issue though cuz you don't need heat then!) but during the winter, ice storms can take down lines too. Oil boilers need a bit more.

Gas boilers however frequently will operate without the need for electricity. This will enable you to have hot domestic water and a warm home during a power failure! Of course, the issue with gas is that in earthquake-prone areas, and even in the northeast, gas outages are sort of frequent. I know Washington DC has frequent gas outages becasue the old lines fail frequently...resulting in flying man-hole covers on the streets when the stuff ignites underground!
 
Dlangdon,

That is very strange. Sounds like the oil injector appartus malfunctioned at the same time the heat exchanger was breached and the fan went on... all very odd. Sounds like a bad install to say the least.

When I was buying my house about 10 years ago, I remember getting into a conversation with my agent about a wealthy friend who happened to be his client as well. He mentioned that he'd almost gotten them into a beautiful mansion, but then it was disclosed that there was an old underground heating oil tank on the property. Even though there was no sign it had ever leaked, the client refused to go any further with the deal, due to all the nightmares that can ensure from remediation hassles and costs.

Even though this is a quake prone area, gas outtages are rare. I've lived here for some 40 odd years and never experienced a gas outtage. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it just doesn't seem to be very common (unless a quake is a direct hit and ruptures the lines). I do have a propane BBQ grill with a side burner, and plenty of charcoal, just in case :-). Electrical outtages are much more common.
 
Personally, I like gas heat because gas is always there. Well, as much as electricity, anyway. In all the years we've used gas, I've never once had a service interruption due to a gas main break, etc.

When we had oil, we occasionally DID have an interruption when the weather was so cold that the oil gelled in the tank. That was in Mass. and a long time ago, so maybe they've improved the product since then.

Greg, if you have gas piped into the house, it'll increase the property value. Plus, you'll be able to use it for cooking, hot water, and drying clothes. You could even put in a gas fireplace. I don't know about NE, but down here if you put in a high-efficiency tankless water heater, you get a $300 credit (though I can't remember from whom.)

There's nothing quite like dinner cooked on a gas range in aluminum pans.

Unless it's washing underwear with towels...

veg
 
Natural Gas

Growing up in rural north GA I grew up in a house with NO insulation. It was not required in 1956 when I was born and the year my family's little red brick home was buildt. The house was heated with propane from an underground tank in the back yard. My Dad worked for the local propane delivery company. We cooked, heated water, dryed clothes with propane gas. They raised five kids with propane gas. My parents remodeled their house in the 1970's added insulation, storm windows, storm doors and replaced sheetrock with paneling and added wood heat. Now in the winter time when we go for a visit their house is like walking into an oven. My wife and I keep our house at 68 in the winter and 78 in summer. My parents house is 80+ in the winter and cooled by 2 window A/C in the summer.

At my home we cook with electric, have a electric dual fuel heat pump with natural gas back-up when the temps. dip below 32 degrees. Heat water via natural gas. Had a gas dryer but replaced with electric after Katrina hit and Natural gas prices went thru the roof.
 
Most homes in my area (SF Bay) built before the 60's were not insulated, either. The climate here just was too mild and energy prices too low to worry about conservation.

Of course it's different today. When I bought this home in '97, it had no insulation in the attic, and numerous air leaks in the ceiling. After sealing off the leaks and adding about 10 inches of fiberglass insulation, I was able to lower the winter-time gas consumption by about 50%. The furnace also works a lot less. Even on the coldest evenings (it can get down to the high 20's) it's off mroe than on. Lowered the thermostat to about 64 F last winter - got familiar with sweaters and thick socks. Got a $40 rebate from the local power company for using more than 10% less than previous winter. Don't think I could repeat that feat this winter, but you never know, what with global warming and all... lol...
 

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