Buying a home heater. Do I REALLY have to bend over?

Sounds pretty high. Is your existing heater still functioniong? If so, how many years to recoup the investment, based on the 10% or so increase in efficiency?

 

My In-laws new home up in northern MN paid out over 7k for their home heater. All electric furnance. It was really cool to watch them install it. The inside is lined with hundreds of these huge heavy oven bricks to contain the warmth.
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WOW! There are cold areas in California?????

 

It really depends on the specifics. If you know the exact unit I might be able to get you general pricing on it. How many labor hours do they estimate? Also, It wouldn't surprise me if all the supply air / exhaust ductwork needs to be inspected. I doubt the actual supply / return ductwork does, but it wouldn't hurt. How do they plan on doing it? Video cam? Check with your local inspectors office if you have questions about what is required. They are going to have to pull a permit on this job anyway.

The price seems in line for the DC area.

 

I've never heard of bricks in an electric furnace. What brand is it?

 

what do you need a heater for ??? just start a fire on the floor of each room just make sure you open the windows for adequate ventilation. those fake peckers you have will make great WOOD .....

 

I will find out next week I'm going up there for a wedding. But this thing is huge.

 

My friend just spent $7500 on a new oil furnace, his was 40 years old so I hope he gained more than 10%.

 

I think 4 years payback isn't too bad

 

Your guess may be off.

$5,000.00 spread over 4 years is $1,250.00 annually, or @$104.00 a month, year round.
If it's used 6 months a year, that's $208.00 a month. But, it seems you're at a high elevation, so it's possibly running during the evening cool year-round, even on July 4.

I doubt there's $104.00, let alone $208.00 monthly difference between an 80% and 90% efficiency-rated unit. Is there?

Have you considered pellet-burning heaters? Amazingly efficient, even for large spaces.

 

I have to agree with Tom on this one. Pellets are the way to go. I put mine in about 7 years ago and haven't looked back. I usually burn between one and two tons a year. At about $150/ton here, that's cheap heat! If you like wood heat at all it's a similar heat, not quite as dry though.

 

Completely replaced the heating and air conditioning unit in my house about 2 years ago.

Installed a 90% effecient gas fired unit, and had the ductwork cleaned while I was at it.

The combustion chamber had cracked,(or some component that was unvolved in the burning process, and it was leaking carbon monoxide.

Cost all in was about $9k+, but did include a new A/C unit, along with the heater. I don't recall how many BTUs it was.

DM

 

Dav and I did the same thing. I totallyu replaced my system two years ago as well. Thing is I have no idea what I replaced it with, only that the furnace is about half the size of the one we (Or rather Dad.) put in in 1972. It works well for 8000 ft sq. I can find out tomorrow what it is. I do know it is Natural Gas, if that helps.

Oh if this helps, to heat my pool and hot tub to 80 deg and 90 deg respectively, it cost me about $300 a month thus far.

 

Dr. S is back!!!

Nice to see you back on board.

I probably missed your posts and you've been back a month, right?

Dave

 

In socal wholesale is 1.30 a gallon as of 10/06/2005. Mark up is .50 to 1.00 per. gallon for residential.

 

Hey Pete,

For $150, lunch and a ride in one of your karts, I'll come on over and tweek your gas meter to read a fraction of your actual consumption: break-even takes about 2 weeks.

No, it's not worth it, they're selling you technology & hype. A well insulated home will use very little gas/energy: don't worry so much about making the heat, focus more on holding it in! Your current unit is probably not even half-way through its useful life. I wouldn't change it out unless it needed major repair.

I work with a lot of A/C contractors, and they train their boys to sell you anything & everything: don't believe the hype!!!

Btw, as of mid-October an Air Distribution Pressure Test will be required on all jobs....they want to make sure there are no leaks in the system. They simply tape-off all your registers, blow air into the return, and monitor how air-tight your system is. They can also inject a fogger so they can find the leaks: this is a good idea, I've seen brank new systems where the installer got sloppy and thing aren't right & tight.

 

I wonder if anyone makes a really big pellet boiler that will also cogen some electricity. Waste wood chips alone could make me $ !