Oil v. Gas Furnace
 

We have an oil furnace in our house and I believe the tank has a small leak (we recently noticed our basement starting to smell like oil and I noticed a small amount of oil under the tank) I am going to call the HVAC place this week to see what can be done, but everyone I have mentioned it to seems to be of the mind that they will likely have to replace the entire tank instead of being able to fix the leak. To me, it looks like it is rusted on the bottom, so I can't really tell either way. Another one of my friends suggested, depending on the cost of replacing the tank, maybe just getting a gas furnace instead. Other than burning hotter and probably being cheaper than gas, what is the benefit to spending the money and keeping the oil furnace? Has anyone dealt with an issue like this or switched recently? I don't really have an attachment to either one - the house came with the oil furnace so we just went with that obviously. I just hoping to save some money and go with the cheaper solution at this point (and down the road of course)

I have had both and I like gas much better, don't have to have the oil company out to fill you in November ( or June in your case), don't have to worry about running out of oil, etc...

That is the big thing I would love to stop doing (having to get the oil filled)

I recall an old farmhouse I rented for awhile that ran on heating oil. We had to get that thing filled about every 2-3 months and it was like $500 each time. I vowed I would never buy a place that ran on oil because of the sheer expense of it. While gas to heat your house can be pricey, I am not sure that oil is any cheaper. I also never felt completely sold on the safety issue of having a tank full of oil nearby. But that is just me.

We went from oil to gas when we replaced the furnace. It was nice getting that space back in the basement where the oil tank was and also going to a more steady cost for the gas. It sucked having to pay the oil company some $400 to come fill a tank every month or two and at least with the gas we can just budget the entire year. Plus, gas is just cleaner and you aren't burning something solid/liquid in your house.

If your tank is going, not sure how old your furnace is so, probably just as easy to just spend the money on a new furnace rather than a new tank. We didn't have gas going to the house at all and Wisconsin Energies will lay down a certain amount of gas line to your house for free depending on where the gas line is. (I want to say something like 75 feet). I think the only thing we had to pay for was an emergency cutoff switch.

We actually have a gas water heater and gas line for the stove, so we shouldn't need any of that (not sure if its separate line for the heat) But I agree, Mustang, I would much rather budget for the year than have to come up with $300 - $400 a pop to fill the oil.

We're lucky enough to live in an area I can heat with electricity. I ripped the gas furnace out after we caught it blowing flames out of a cracked heat exchanger (that had been fixed 4 months before we moved in becuase the attic was full of carbon monoxide). When two small gas leaks were discovered in the hot water heater (that even my wife of the sensitive nose could not detect because of the slow buildup), all traces of gas appliances in my house were removed before the whole thing blew up or burned down.

You're living somewhere where you can get a gas line, I assume? That seems to be everybody's angle here. I've had propane furnaces in the sticks, with a propane tank. You can't compare prices directly because they hold different amounts of energy. That's one thing to consider when looking into it.

I don't have the option for gas since we have no gas lines here but I would prefer gas - mostly because I think the price of oil is going to go WAY up very soon. The run-up in gasoline prices happened in the summer and I was really worried about the cost of oil come winter. Prices crashed and that never happened. But it will, I believe. Natural gas prices could also go up, though... who knows.

As for some of the cons listed above, I disagree with most of them.

Running out of oil? I am on an automatic delivery system with the oil dealer. They keep track of how cold it is (degree days) and your household consumption. They come out to the house whenever it needs to be filled. I never think about it, have never run out of oil, and have never heard of anyone running out of oil on an automatic delivery schedule.

Safety? I think both are safe but oil seems safer. I'm not even sure that if your oil tank leaked and you dropped a match into it, it would burn. I could be completely wrong on that one, though. It certainly would NOT explode. An oil leak would not cause me great concern. A gas leak? Get the #$%^ out of the house. NOW.

Big bills? Get on a payment plan with your oil dealer. It works the same way as with the gas company. The estimated cost is spread over the entire year.

We need someone to run this test and report back. I nominate Castlerock.

I will not be volunteering for this test.

I am a southerner that relocated up here a decade ago, but my experience has been mostly the same as Castlerock's. I get on a plan with the oil provider and pay one bill for the entire year. It has a fixed cost so the cost won't go up if the price of oil goes up. I can choose to purchase downside protection in case the price of oil drops, but i have not chosen to do so.

It never runs out, they always fill it up and any amount that I end up not using at the end of the year just gets refunded back to me for the next year's bill (or refund in check if I choose to go elsewhere).

As for safety issues, I'm sure both can be dangerous if in an unsafe situation. I know there are tons of news stories up here about houses blowing up from gas lines. I don't usually hear those type of news about oil but I am sure there are those too.

Ok, I'll try it at your house.

Yep.

well played sir

Yeah-agreed with Castlerock-

I'd actually prefer heating oil, I like the fact that you basically know what you're using/spending and can adjust for that.

I have natural gas and don't even think you can get oil service in Oklahoma. I think the real debate should be gasoline vs. compressed natural gas cars. CNG is the realistic transition to alternate fuel...cleaner burning and most places have infrastructure already (gas lines).

I don't think PF can heat his house with a car.

Although I guess technically, he could light a car on fire in his house, but that is a one time shot.

Good point, maybe I'll start a thread sometime on it. But, I shouldn't have said something that would thread-jack.

You guys must have good and cheap electric heating if it's cheaper and better to heat with that rather than gas.

Got a guy coming by today to check out the leak. Really hoping this doesn't break the bank...

Well, it's either a new oil tank (~$1000) or just upgrade to a gas furnace (~$2000) We are going to get better estimates later, but either way - it is going to suck.

Well, after paying for AC all summer heating in the winter is a cakewalk.

It's not that it's cheaper/better, it's that my house won't blow up. Plenty of folks around here use gas for cooking/heating, but electric heat is a viable alternative. We rarely see anything below zero, and you'll only see a few nights of teens during the dead of winter.