Oil to Natural Gas conversion?
We've got a nat gas stove and oil furnace. Would it be possible to change the furnace over to gas? Thanks Yes, it is often possible to convert an oil furnace to natural gas using a gas conversion burner. The gas utility I used to work for did the conversion and then leased the burner for a few dollars per month ---- and maintained the conversion burner and the furnace --- that was a deal. The conversion burners are expensive and they require expertise to install. Plus new gas furnaces are going to be more efficient than the converted oil furnace. I don't suppose your gas utility has that kind of lease arrangement? How old is the oil furnace? What is your main reason for considering the conversion? Thanks for the reply. Our current furnace is about 15 to 20 years old. The reason to make the change would be to save money on our heating bills. Home heating oil is pretty expensive where we live and, I feel, it will only continue to go up in cost. Could the cost of such an upgrade be deducted this year as a tax credit? The cost of gas conversion burners has skyrocketed in the last few years, used to be able to buy them for a couple of hundred dollars but no more. At fifteen years of age your oil-fired furnace should have a minimum of five to ten years of life in it. At twenty years I would be seriously thinking of replacement. Understand that you will get no increase in efficiency from a gas conversion burner and may actually decrease the overall efficiency of the heating system. Your best bet would be to replace the existing furnace with a new gas-fired model. If you were to get one with an AFUE rating in excess of 90% efficiency then you would be eligible for the 30% tax credit (up to $1500) that expires at the end of the year. I personally do not think the tax credit by itself justifies replacing the furnace but it could be an added incentive if you want to replace the furnace to get better efficiency or because you think the existing furnace is too old or because of projected fuel costs. Back in the 1970s with the first big run up in oil prices, the gas utility I worked for converted tens of thousands of oil furnaces to gas every years for many years. It was a deal for homeowners since the lease charges were cheap, there were no up front costs to homeowners and the utility maintained the conversion burner and much of the furnace as part of the lease charge, which was $5/month or so as I recall. Couldn't beat that with a stick. Recent decades saw most of those old oil furnaces yanked out in favor of natural gas furnaces with higher efficiencies. Unless you can get a cheap deal on installing a conversion burner somewhere, I think you will be better off with a new gas 90% condensing furnace rather than converting your existing furnace. No harm in shopping around --- and I'd start with your gas utility and see what they can offer to get your business. I just had a thread a month ago about switching from oil to gas. Our furnace was like yours. Over 20 years old, and very inefficient. I decided to make that jump since my local gas company is installing the gas line from the street to the house at no cost. You can find out the eligibility of the Tax Credit for a new furnace here. Last night I checked my furnace. It is a Ruud and has a sticker on it that says it should never be converted to natural gas. I could get the model number by checking the manufacturer plate or finding the manual--it's around somewhere to see if this is true. I switched our oil furnance to gas furnance. I must say that it is worthy of doing so. Just wondering what the efficiency of a converted (oil-to-gas burner) would be compared to replacing with a mid/high efficiency gas furnace. I'm looking to do a conversion from oil to gas and want to compare numbers. I'm in central NJ. How old is your oil furnace? Unless it's five years old or less, I really wouldn't consider a conversion. Conversion burners are expensive. It's difficult to find a contractor with the real experience needed to do the job competently. And a new gas condensing furnace is 90-95% efficient, while a converted oil furnace will max out at about 75% efficient. In addition to SP's comments, I feel I need to warn you about converting furnaces not listed for gas. The conversion burners are listed but the furnace, when converted to gas my very well loose it's approval. Some furnaces are approved for both gas oil but very few.
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