Home Projects

Replacing the Furnace, January 2008

When we initially bought the house, we new we would have to replace the furnace eventually, but were hoping to hold out for a while. After spending a winter with our 16 year old oil burner, we were not happy with the performance or the rising cost of heating oil. Last spring, Vermont Gas gave us another option. They announced that they were extending their lines through Jericho, and offered to hook up any one who wanted to convert at no cost.

Lucky for us, Sue's Dad is licensed to install heating systems. In August, we bought a 93% efficient Peerless boiler, and were all set to go when VT Gas installed our gas line on the first week of October. The only problem was that they went past our house and never came back until the third week of November. By the time all was said and done, our furnace wasn't in until mid-January.

It basically took an act of God, but we finally got out gas meter installed and turned on, ready to fire up the furnace.

Here is the gas line coming into the house. Our oil company had a half tank minimum on all deliveries. So, I decided to fetch 10 gallons at a time from the local gas station. I did this every couple days or so for a couple weeks. Interestingly enough, I ended up buying a little more than a half tank of oil over this time.. doh!

Here are all the parts in the basement, as well as our new water tank.

The old furnace was a tankless hot water. It is "supposed" to be more energy efficient, but our furnace would run constantly (even in the summer when we weren't using a lot of hot water) and we would get surges of scalding hot water followed by losing all hot water. With a baby on the way, we decided to go with an indirect water heater. Life has been so much better since.

So here is our furnace closet. Since VT Gas was 2 months late with the gas line, and since they would not turn on the gas line until the furnace was ready and able to fire up, we had to squeeze the new one next to the old furnace and run them both for a short while.

If I could do it all over again, I would have locked in my heating oil for another winter and pushed the conversion out until the summer. In September, I had a chance to lock in at a dollar less a gallon than what we ended up paying for October, November, December & January. Lesson learned, I guess.

While a mid-winter furnace install is not fun, it was definately worth it. We calculated that we will save a little more than 50% off our heating bill from the year before. And with oil prices continuing to soar, the savings may prove to be even greater. Plus, there are even more benefits: First, natural gas is goverment regulated in Vermont, so rates are only adjusted once a year; Second, all natural gas used in the United States is sourced domestically from the U.S. or Canada... we are not putting money into terrorist pockets; and Third, natural gas burns cleaner, and combined with our high efficiency furnace, we are helping the environment.

Last Updated: 1/14/08