My oil-fired furnace is now over 25 years old. A lot older than it was in that picture. It’s from the first week of this site, September 2006.
This year for the first time, at the insistence of the oil company, I’m on a monthly payment plan. Until this heating season, paying for each oil delivery individually, the thermostats were usually set to 65 during the day, and 59 at night. The result was a chilly house.
Now that I’m being billed the same amount every month year-round, I’m not worrying about the cost of each oil delivery, or the thermostat settings. They’re set to 70 degrees all day and 65 at night. So, yeah, I’m burning a lot more oil, but enjoying the comfort level.
Although I have no intention of selling my house, which is held in a trust, I can imagine that an oil burner with forced hot water heat would be a negative on the real estate market. How long can I wait to replace the heating system, and what should I get to replace it?
My friends the Sinnotts replaced their oil furnace with Mitsubishi heat pumps. They love the system, especially because the house now has air conditioning. I’m looking forward to seeing their heat pump setup and, oh yeah, maybe looking at some original Joe Sinnott art.
I mentioned my house being in a trust because of this cautionary tale:
The service technician estimated the boiler might be good for another ten years. We’ll see.
We installed heat pump systems in our 1928 2 family house, to supplement rather than replace the gas-fired steam heating systems. Each unit has 4 heads — 1 for each of the 3 bedrooms, and a more powerful one for the common areas. It’s convenient that it allows room by room control, but the unit for the common area doesn’t hit one particular room very well. In the summer, the cool air can spill down from the 3rd floor and take the edge off in that room, but in the winter, that room stays cool. So usually when winter *really* gets going, we switch over to the old steam system. (when I say old, really the only thing old is the radiators — the boiler for our apartment was replaced after the heat pumps were installed, when the old one seemingly cracked).
In summary, we are quite happy with our system. Summers are much more comfortable and no longer involve dragging window units up from the basement and back down in the fall — a chore I do not miss a bit. As to how long to wait? Heat pumps are getting more common, more efficient, and more familiar to more installers. If your current system is functioning normally, probably no need to rush, but also, you really don’t want to have to have that kind of work done on an emergency basis.
Stay warm, and Happy Thanksgiving! ?