Oil vs. gas furnace

[Brandystew]

I my be switching from oil hot water heat to a gas furnace this year. What is a good brand of gas furnace?

Dave

[Brandystew]

I have a oil furnace now and may switch to a gas furnace this year. Any suggestons on brands of gas furnace?

Dave

[borgunit]

I can let you know that I have been disappointed with my Goodman and you should look at others than this one.

[Doug Miller]

You're probably better off asking in alt.home.repair or misc.consumers.house (followups set accordingly).

[stretch]

Lennox, Trane, American Standard, Carrier, York. Don't get the least expensive madel from anyone. Go at least middle price for good quality. Most of these manufacturers have at least 5 lines of gas furnaces.

Also make sure your contractor does a load calculation to determine the proper size. A load calculation is NOT just the square feet of floor area. They have to measure sqare feet of walls, windows, doors, ceilings, floors. They have to know r-factors and what kind of windows and which way they face. IF they don't do that, get another contractor.

Stretch

[BocesLib]

I assume that when you mean furnace that you are going with forced hot air. (if you were sticking to hot water heat, you would have a boiler)

In any case I myself went from an oil to gas furnace a few years ago.

First and formost dont always go with the cheapest guy. Go with a installer that had been around awhile and has a decent rep. Cant hurt to check out you local BBB (better business) and see what kind of complaints that they have. If they have 2 or so not big deal, you cant make everyone happy.

As for brands, I went with a rheem 2 stage unit. Your price on the unit will vary with different features and model efficencies. If indeed you are going with a furnace, make sure to go with a decent air filter in there. I went with the middle of the line april air cartridge filter, no complaints.

House is warm and I am happy.

[Charlie Self]

I switched to propane here about 4 years ago. Added to my experience with NG in WV, I'd say stick with oil. Gas has a single advantage over oil: it burns cleaner, so doesn't need an annual furnace clean-up and check. It costs as much, possibly more, per Btu, IME.

[Joseph Meehan]

Far more important than the brand is the contractor. A good contractor will not work with junk and a poor contractor can make the best equipment work poorly and unreliable.

Find a good contractor (asking around is a good start) get more than one estimate, and let the contractor guide you in the choice of brands for your specific application.

[v]

The problem with propane is that, like oil, it is brought to the house in batches by truck, a less efficient method. If somebody lives in a place where the natural gas infrastructure is already in place, and can receive continuous deliveries by pipe, that has some inherent advantage.

As to the relative prices per btu, aww shucks, they are competing products and both are petrochemicals, so go figure, no obvious clear winner for all times.

You never hear of a house blowing up from an oil explosion. OTOH nobody incurs major soil cleanup expenses because of a propane or natural gas leak.

Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.