Converting from oil to gas fired furnace, any suggestions?

[Carhauler]

I'm thinking about converting our 24 year old oil furnace to bottled gas, any suggestions as to who makes a good gas furnace. System is forced hot air.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Straight gas furnaces are pretty generic. The heavily advertised brands like Lennox are usally a lot more expensive but quality is no better. Shop on price and stay away from the low end ones (the price will indicate). Most of the optional bells and whistles are just to get your money, not much value addeed. Unless you get a condensing type (recommended) you will not save much in operating costs over a new high effeciency oil furnace. You might look into a heat pump instead. If you are in a cold winter area then get the combo unit which has a gas furnace as back up for low temps instead of the aux electric heat strips.

Ron

 

[Egon]

Is that Bottled gas propane?

 

[Pete Judd]

Given the cost per BTU of propane vs fuel oil these days, I think that I would opt for a heat pump. They are not to hard to retrofit to standard furnaces for the forced air, or the newer room sized ones might work for you as well.

 

[Oaktree]

Any particular reason for wanting to convert to gas?

At least with oil you have the ability to change suppliers if you wish. Most propane companies will not fill a tank they don't own, so you're stuck with one provider.

 

[Blast Chamber]

I can tell you one brand to stay away from would be ComfortMaker.

Our forced-air natural-gas ComfortMaker has broken down twice in the last 5 years. The first time it was a bad exhaust blower, and the second time was the ignitor.

Fortunately I was able to fix it myself after getting parts at the local dealer, but the breakdowns both happened on below-zero weather days and I've now lost confidence in this unit.

We have also had problems with our ComfortMaker central air unit bought at the same time. Our next system will be a different brand for sure.

 

[rockshaft]

I have a Trane (XV90, I think) that has worked really well the last 6-7years. Initially it was setup for propane, then I was able to get natural gas to my house and I made the conversion myself. I use the woodstove when I can, but the Trane has served me well so far.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm not in the HVAC business...

I have installed about a dozen units, whole house systems and half were from scratch...

(The least expensive gas heat is a gravity wall furnace... no electricity required)

My favorites have been tempstar units for whole house... put them in closets, attics and basement/crawl space.

They are efficient with 3 stage burners and comfortable with a variable speed blower and the units I used are multi positional...

The last I think had a 25k btu and a 50k btu and would adjust between 25, 50 and 75k btu depending on temp differential.

Really like the variable speed blower... only a whisper to maintain temp and full on when going from a cold house.

The AC is also very efficient... went with a 30amp compressor which is undersized... works great because we re-insulated all the walls and ceiling and changed out windows plus a summer shade tree.

I'm sure those in the business will have more recommendations...

 

[murphy1244]

Try arcoaire, Use a heat pump with propane heat as emergency heat. Is there gas avaible at the street?

 

[kenmac]

I can tell you one brand to stay away from would be ComfortMaker.

Our forced-air natural-gas ComfortMaker has broken down twice in the last 5 years. The first time it was a bad exhaust blower, and the second time was the ignitor.

Are you aware that the same inducer motors & ignitors are (most likely) used by all the other brands ? Hp & propane back up (as murphy ) stated would be your best bet. Straight propane will eat $$$. If you can purchase a propane tank, you'll be able to shop for the best prices