Seeking advice regarding furnace replacement.

[legless_Marine]

We've been waffling on replacing my furnace for a while, and have gotten no closer to a decision. I'm hoping someone here can offer some insight that will tilt the balance one way or other.

Considerations:

-Furnace is 50 years old, but still running well. I've been told that given it's age, sudden, irreparable failure is increasingly possible. This is most likely during winter, which would leave us little room to make ideal replacement choices.

-Current Gas bill is ~2000 a year. (~60 in summer, ~250 in winter).

-Based on conversations with furnace techs/gasfitters, I can expect to save 30% in my heating with a new furnace, which I expect would cost me $6000 installed. ROI=~10 years.

-I expect to live in this place for roughly 10 more years - 5 min, 15 max. I don't expect a furnace would contribute much to resale value, as house is a likely pulldown candidate and purchaser would be paying for land/location.

-I'm still toying with the idea of installing a wood fireplace, which I expect to cost ~3500, and give us a fallback in case of furnace failure. Additionally, it would potentially offset heating costs in winter. On the downside, it would slightly increase my house insurance.

I'm leaning towards replacing, but now is not a good time to part with ~$6000. OTOH, whatever I do, it's better done sooner than later.

Having trouble making a decision here. Can anyone offer insight to tilt things one way or the other?

[Frankie3s]

We've been waffling on replacing my furnace for a while, and have gotten no closer to a decision. I'm hoping someone here can offer some insight that will tilt the balance one way or other.

Considerations:

-Furnace is 50 years old, but still running well. I've been told that given it's age, sudden, irreparable failure is increasingly possible. This is most likely during winter, which would leave us little room to make ideal replacement choices.

-Current Gas bill is ~2000 a year. (~60 in summer, ~250 in winter).

-Based on conversations with furnace techs/gasfitters, I can expect to save 30% in my heating with a new furnace, which I expect would cost me $6000 installed. ROI=~10 years.

-I expect to live in this place for roughly 10 more years - 5 min, 15 max. I don't expect a furnace would contribute much to resale value, as house is a likely pulldown candidate and purchaser would be paying for land/location.

-I'm still toying with the idea of installing a wood fireplace, which I expect to cost ~3500, and give us a fallback in case of furnace failure. Additionally, it would potentially offset heating costs in winter. On the downside, it would slightly increase my house insurance.

I'm leaning towards replacing, but now is not a good time to part with ~$6000. OTOH, whatever I do, it's better done sooner than later.

Having trouble making a decision here. Can anyone offer insight to tilt things one way or the other?


I too at one time was thinking about putting in a wood fireplace/stove but decided against it because of the mess with the ashes. Plus any savings would be lost when you factor in having to get wood (and you will need a lot of it), home insurance increases, etc.

If you live in an old neighborhood no one will probably care too much about the smell of burning wood. But in a new subdivision and if you do it often, this could also be a problem. Just make sure that everything is up to code so if the city comes around that you won't have issues.

[Munchos]

I would definitely do it before your old one craps out. With the eco auditers being very busy right now, it might be a while for an auditor to come out when your furnace is dead. I know the couple guys we use are apparently 5 weeks behind and without an audit, you will not get the cash incentives back from the government. Just something to consider.

Oh and when its minus 20 out and you have no heat, chances are you will not be too picky when it comes to choosing who has the best prices or service.

[legless_Marine]

I would definitely do it before your old one craps out. With the eco auditers being very busy right now, it might be a while for an auditor to come out when your furnace is dead. I know the couple guys we use are apparently 5 weeks behind and without an audit, you will not get the cash incentives back from the government. Just something to consider.

Oh and when its minus 20 out and you have no heat, chances are you will not be too picky when it comes to choosing who has the best prices or service.

What you say makes a lot of sense, but I must confess I'm still resistant to the idea of forking our for a new furnace, and am trying to think of alternatives.

What about this:

Replace our old-skool gas fireplace in the basement with something high efficiency. I think this could be done for $1000, and it should be able to partially heat our 1000 sqft house in case of an emergency. This would give us time to get a wood stove installed up stairs (~3000) to augment our heat should it be necessary.

The benefits of this are that a woodstove costs less, and we can take it with us when we eventually move out.

Ideally, we'd never have to take this route, but it provides dual-fallback and saves us from forking our for a full furnace replacement.

[Munchos]

What you say makes a lot of sense, but I must confess I'm still resistant to the idea of forking our for a new furnace, and am trying to think of alternatives.

What about this:

Replace our old-skool gas fireplace in the basement with something high efficiency. I think this could be done for $1000, and it should be able to partially heat our 1000 sqft house in case of an emergency. This would give us time to get a wood stove installed up stairs (~3000) to augment our heat should it be necessary.

The benefits of this are that a woodstove costs less, and we can take it with us when we eventually move out.

Ideally, we'd never have to take this route, but it provides dual-fallback and saves us from forking our for a full furnace replacement.

A thousand bucks for a HE furnace? I would hate to see the guys who are installing that for you, as they won't be in the business long at that price. We sell the cheapest units at around 2000 maybe a bit more, and that is for a mid I believe.

Have you actually had someone come in and give you a ballpark quote on the things you are wanting to install? I think you might be a bit surprised at how much things cost to get installed by a reputable company.

Oh and the venting for a wood stove can get costly and very ugly really fast. It is way different venting than direct vent fireplaces.

[legless_Marine]

A thousand bucks for a HE furnace? I would hate to see the guys who are installing that for you, as they won't be in the business long at that price. We sell the cheapest units at around 2000 maybe a bit more, and that is for a mid I believe.

Have you actually had someone come in and give you a ballpark quote on the things you are wanting to install? I think you might be a bit surprised at how much things cost to get installed by a reputable company.

Oh and the venting for a wood stove can get costly and very ugly really fast. It is way different venting than direct vent fireplaces.

I think you misunderstood (or I may have made a typo)... I would upgrade my existing gas fireplace to a higher efficiency gas fireplace w/blower, not a furnace. Based on new information, though, I see that this would cost around $2000. Do you think this would be sufficient to heat a 1000 sqft house by convection?

(ps. Wood stove for ~3000 is based on a quote from an installer.)

[Munchos]

I think you misunderstood (or I may have made a typo)... I would upgrade my existing gas fireplace to a higher efficiency gas fireplace w/blower, not a furnace. Based on new information, though, I see that this would cost around $2000. Do you think this would be sufficient to heat a 1000 sqft house by convection?

(ps. Wood stove for ~3000 is based on a quote from an installer.)

I would say $2000 at the cheapest for the cheapest fireplace you can get. Why not get a mid-efficiency furnace? Way more efficient than the unit you have now. It might even work out that you could get the wood stove as well for the same price as the high efficiency furnace. Unlikely but depending on what you like, you just might.

IMO, I would definitely get a mid efficiency furnace over the other option of a fireplace that you are only getting for the sake of getting. I have only installed one fireplace for the price you are thinking of getting. It was about as good as a builders fireplace and something I would never reccomend to anybody to buy.