My house is presently heated with oil heat is it possiable to convert the boiler to gas heat?.?

Question

Is this adviseable in the long run ...

Answer 1

In my area the gas company would install gas conversion burners in oil furnaces. It was cheaper. It is much cleaner. And they require much less service. So that is a big savings.

Converting is much cheaper than replacing with a new gas boiler. But a gas boiler is much more efficient than oil, or a converted oil unit.

The older gas boilers have a large chamber for the flame generated by oil. And as a result the boiler itself is rather inefficient even if gas is cheaper. Newer ones are better but not a whole lot.

That is why your gain is not as much as with a gas boiler. It has to do with the nature of the flame. Oil burners create sort of a "ball" of flame. They need to do that to get the heavier oil to burn clean.

The gas conversion burners have to mimic that flame so they use more gas than a new gas boiler itself would use because the design would be different.

But if you don't have gas now there could also be a good savings converting your water heater too if it is separate.

I hope info that helps

Good Luck

Answer 2

As Stephen implied, go with a new high efficiency boiler. There are conversion burners available that would allow you to utilize your old boiler, but they are high maintenance and inefficient.

Answer 3

If you have natural gas available, I would advise it strongly. Oil is costly to maintain, and to fill your tank.Nat. gas has none of the ugly tags attached, excpt installation. This is a recoupurable price tag. You may have to replace your boiler to a new, more efficient model, but in the long run, you will be better off. You will also see an improvement in the value of your house. I don't see a down side.