Combination Wood/Oil Furnaces

I am looking into the possibility of purchasing a combination oil/wood-fired hot air furnace and have been getting conflicting opinions locally. I'm in CT and a few plumbers I spoke with say that the only time they deal with combination furnaces, the homeowner is asking them to take them out. The various combination furnace manufacturer's brochures say that they are the best thing since french bread. Can someone who has one of these or installed one of these provide me with some feedback (good or bad?)

Gordon

Reply to
Gord
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Friend of mine has had one for about 15 years now. He uses it in the coldest part of winter, but at other times relies on oil as it is much simpler to control as the oil burner can be shut down, the wood is not as easily slowed when you just don't need the heat.

Good: Cheap to operate if you can get free or cheap wood Backup if you have frequent power failures (yes, you can circulate water fairly well with no electricity)

Bad Not easily shut down in mild weather Burning wood is labor intensive Takes more space and piping as compared to a straight oil burner

As with any wood burning appliance, it is not much of a cost advantage if you are buying cordwood from the locals. If you have a source of free wood and are willing to cut, haul, split, it is a money saver. I suspect cord wood will be about $200 this year and oil will be about $255 a hundred gallons.

Based on what my friend has done, would I get one? Not now as I don't want to do the labor. I've not burned by regular wood stove in four years. Twenty years ago, yes.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

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