OT: Oil burningr -> Gas Burning furnace

[veggieburger]

Sorry for the OT, but I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone around here.

I just bought a small house with a 4 year old furnace in good shape...however, it burns oil. The previous owner swears up n' down that converting the unit to gas is quite simple, and doesn't require a brand new furnace. If it was 15 years old I'd just tear it out and put a new one in, but b/c of the relatively new age, I'd like to explore that option.

Has anyone ever done this sort of swap?

Thx!

[MattTuck]

As I understand it, they are two totally different types of furnaces... But maybe new technology exists?

At the moment, natural gas is cheaper on a per BTU basis, but if you don't have nat gas coming to your house, you need to get a propane tank which can be an eye sore.

Atleast with oil, the tank is in the basement.

[veggieburger]

Natural gas *does* run to the house...I just want to know if I can do a quick burner swap and leave everything the same?

[AngryScientist]

what's the make and model number of the furnace??

generally, it should be entirely possible to do this, with some ignition control changes as well.

if you havent already, a call to the furnace manufacturer should be your first phone call.

[54ny77]

If you already have gas to the house, yes it can be done.

Price will vary greatly depending manufacturer of furnace and cost of install. Ballpark figure is $5-8k all-in for a basic good unit from reputable manufacturer and complete install on a 1500-1800 sq. ft home with 2 separate zones.

Be sure to call your local gas company and ask them about rebates or credits towards converting your home to natural gas. Many states offer this.

Is your oil tank underground? If so, make sure to budget getting it pulled, esp. if you have well water.


Natural gas *does* run to the house...I just want to know if I can do a quick burner swap and leave everything the same?

[CaptStash]

Don't know about your local regs, but one way or another you will have to deal with the old oil tank. If it's buried that could lead to quite a zoo. We were able to have ours cleaned and filled with concrete, rather than digging it up. Safer when you consider the expense of disposing of hazardous waste if they find contaminated soil when they dig it up.

Slight thread drift I know...but what the heck. When we asked about converting our oil furnace to gas, the asked "converting it again?" Turns out it was originally a coal burner!

CaptStash....

[572cv]

Ive done this on a boiler. Switch was from oil to natural gas. It was a piece of cake to swap out the burner. The upgrade usually brings you under current code, which requires a chimney inspection, which may lead to a new chimney liner, but this is a good safety upgrade anyway. Running nat gas instead of oil here in the east is a no brainer. Go for it if that is the choice, and if you can.

[wc1934]

Our house was heated by oil - forced hot water (boiler). The gas company offered a deal - they would run a gas line down our street and then connect individual lines to all the houses on the street - we had to get x number of homeowners to agree (needed to be profitable for the gas company).

The gas company then installed a conversion burner - the boiler remained intact, they just inserted this element/unit which ran off the gas. I rented this conversion burner from the gas company for about 10 bucks a month. Worked fine for years.

We have since purchased an entirely new high efficiency gas boiler.

But to answer your question, yes you can indeed convert to gas - google oil/gas conversions burners and you will see a bunch of cites.

[Ken Robb]

In San Diego we don't use our heaters very much but when we do it is either gas or electric. When I was a kid in Chicago I witnessed the progression from hand-shoveled coal to automatic screw drive coal stokers and "TA-DA" oil burners. Is gas so much cheaper per BTU than oil that it pays to replace/convert oil to gas?