Furnace Question

[gypsyhorsefan]

This is of course a purely hypothetical situation.

Imagine that someone purchased a house with a very old propane furnace in the spring, then found out in the fall that it will cost an arm and a leg to fill the propane tank, and the ridiculously old furnace (so old the home inspector said it was the oldest one of that type that he had ever seen working) will probably break at some point over the winter anyway and be replaced with an electric system by the home warranty. Is there a way that she could cause the furnace to break before refilling the tank (it still has about 10% left) and save herself the propane money? Obviously a repairman would be sent out to make sure that it actually needed to be replaced and not just repaired, so it can't just be a breaker issue.

[Anonymous]

Sorry no, I don't know of anyway to permanently put the thing out of commission. Unfortunately, most new parts go right on (regardless of year, make and model) and will always be the route chosen by the Warranty Company (WC). She's dreaming, hallucinating and bat-$#&% crazy, if she thinks she'll get some new high-end or entire system switch from a WC.

- Even if the furnace exploded, she'll get a bottom of the barrel (or re-built) propane furnace from the WC. They will not be wasting time and money to even replace the concrete pad nor cinder blocks it might be sitting on. Therefore, absolutely not. They won't be re-wiring nor removing pipes nor hauling a propane tank away nor even giving her a check, GUARANTEED.

- She should price a new Heat Pump system (the only electric she should be considering) and a replacement Propane Furnace to see which is actually more affordable...now and later. Maybe a Mini-Split Ductless is the way to go. The last bit of bad news is that Natural Gas and Propane furnaces are The Most durable and reliable, well-made won't be dying anytime soon.

- Finally, have her call the Propane Company and find out what the deal is. Around me, Amerigas does the propane and it's their tank and gas. In my area's circumstance, if or when she ditches propane, the gas would be bought back and the tank would be removed for a quite small fee.

[jimnason]

Aka defraud the home warranty company? Home warranty companies often pay on the depreciated price of an appliance. If the furnace was 1 year old and broke beyond repair (not likely), they might likely replace the furnace. More likely they just repair it. However a 30 year old furnace which is beyond its useful life would not likely be replaced. You might get some marginal credit toward a new one, like 100 bucks or so. Home warranty policies are kind of like extended car warranties, not worth the paper they are printed on. She won't get a brand new furnace to replace an ancient furnace. when a propane tank is removed the propane company will usually recover the unused propane and pay you for it.