Replacing a Furnace ???

[vetrik]

Has anyone here replaced an oil furnace lately?

DH and I purchased our home 1 1/2 years ago - it was built in 1953 and the furnace is original to the house (making it 54 years old!). We knew this, had an inspection, had it serviced and cleaned, etc. It has always worked fine since we've been here, and is currently still working fine (we have turned it on and tested it for the winter already). The oil company came out to service it this fall, and basically told us we were on borrowed time - which we knew, it's 54 years old!

This has suddenly really freaked DH out this year. We got a quote to replace it from our oil company for $5,000.00. The only option to pay is cash up front. We could pay it, but it would be a big drain on our savings account. That makes me very nervous heading into winter, and we're both in sort of unstable work situations right now - both of our employers have had layoffs or cut hours in the past 2 months (I work in real estate law, and he works in lumber sales). My nightmare is that we could both end up laid off in January, with not much left in savings. DH's nightmare is that our furnace gives out in January, and our pipes freeze, flooding the entire house. Both are total worst case scenarios!

What should we do, considering that it is not broken right now, it's just a ticking time bomb? I know the ideal situation would be to replace it, but maybe in our situation it's better to wait it out and see what happens??? We had hoped that there was a payment plan, so we could pay it off over a year, but that is apparently not an option. DH kind of just wants to do it, I want to wait a year, saving money towards it every month and plan on replacing it next fall.

 

[mcorbo]

We were kind of in the same boat, bought our house 13 years ago. It was built in 1929 and still had the original coal furnace that had been converted to oil. We had a contract with the oil company who serviced it yearly and keep it running 10 more years before it died in the middle of the winter. (a north jersey winter, not too bad, but still cold enough to freeze pipes) The plumber was great, lent us 6 space heaters to keep us warm for the 3 or 4 days that it took them to replace it. It also cost us $5000 cash up front.

I must tell you though, the savings on oil are fantastic. I used to use about 250 gallons in a cold month, we now use about 1/2 to 1/3 that much.

Has anyone here replaced an oil furnace lately?

DH and I purchased our home 1 1/2 years ago - it was built in 1953 and the furnace is original to the house (making it 54 years old!). We knew this, had an inspection, had it serviced and cleaned, etc. It has always worked fine since we've been here, and is currently still working fine (we have turned it on and tested it for the winter already). The oil company came out to service it this fall, and basically told us we were on borrowed time - which we knew, it's 54 years old!

This has suddenly really freaked DH out this year. We got a quote to replace it from our oil company for $5,000.00. The only option to pay is cash up front. We could pay it, but it would be a big drain on our savings account. That makes me very nervous heading into winter, and we're both in sort of unstable work situations right now - both of our employers have had layoffs or cut hours in the past 2 months (I work in real estate law, and he works in lumber sales). My nightmare is that we could both end up laid off in January, with not much left in savings. DH's nightmare is that our furnace gives out in January, and our pipes freeze, flooding the entire house. Both are total worst case scenarios!

What should we do, considering that it is not broken right now, it's just a ticking time bomb? I know the ideal situation would be to replace it, but maybe in our situation it's better to wait it out and see what happens??? We had hoped that there was a payment plan, so we could pay it off over a year, but that is apparently not an option. DH kind of just wants to do it, I want to wait a year, saving money towards it every month and plan on replacing it next fall.

 

[taraprather]

Hi there,
I posted on here about the problems I'm having with my furnace to. It is 37 years old. I got a quote yesterday for a 80% efficiency for a total of a little less then $2300.00 and that's installed. If I want 90% efficiency it would be about $1500.00 more. They do the 12 months same as cash also. I would suggest you look around some more for different prices and finance options.

 

[IDoDis]

Why not get a small bank loan? You might not like having extra monthly payments added to your budget, but you could use some of your savings to make the payments each month and then add some extra from your regular income when you can so that you can get the loan paid off faster. That way you wouldn't deplete your savings account all in one shot and would still have money to fall back on if need be. I'd also start selling some things on ebay and use all of that extra money to go towards paying off the loan. You'd be surprised at how fast you could get that thing paid off.

I would not wait though for the furnace to give out. 54 years is probably 10-15 years at least past the time when it should have been replaced, so you are taking a huge gamble. One day it will just die and you don't want a catastrophe on your hands.

 

[Muushka]

On the bright side, look at how much $ you will be saving with a much more energy efficient furnace! We replaced our 12 year old one (no, it didn't last too long, did it) and find a great monthly saving, which we will re-coup our expense in a few years with the savings.

 

[aynt79]

I would replace it, if it goes during winter it will more than likely cost you at lot more when it's an emergency vs being able to schedule the replacement now when you have some time to play with (not even counting any of the damage that could occur). I would shop around, you may find places that will give you a payment plan or just a better price in general. Like other posters have said you will probably be saving money in the long run, it will much more efficient than one that's 54 years old.

 

[WILDTREEGAIL]

We were in the same position about 5 years ago, only our furnace was the original in a 100 year old house. It had been converted from wood to coal to oil. We were able to replace it for about $2,500. It was a big hit to the savings account but we have more than saved that amount on the amount of oil we've gone through. We also live in RI. I'd start calling plumbing and heating companies and asking for estimates. When we asked the oil company for an estimate they were the most expensive one we received. Good Luck!

 

[WILDTREEGAIL]

We were in the same position about 5 years ago, only our furnace was the original in a 100 year old house. It had been converted from wood to coal to oil. We were able to replace it for about $2,500. It was a big hit to the savings account but we have more than saved that amount on the amount of oil we've gone through. We also live in RI. I'd start calling plumbing and heating companies and asking for estimates. When we asked the oil company for an estimate they were the most expensive one we received. Good Luck! Don't give up.