Posted on 11/02/2007 11:56:14 PM PDT by skully
NEW YORK (AP) — With his furnace sputtering its final gasps, Charles Comito decided it was time to trade in his heating oil system for natural gas this year. The switch cost $4,400, a price he says will be worthwhile in the chilly months ahead.
"It was for the convenience and cost," said Comito, a 71-year-old resident of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., who lives in a three-bedroom ranch-style home.
With oil topping $90 per barrel, some homeowners are weighing whether the price tag for switching to a natural gas furnace makes sense. The decision may depend on a variety of factors, including the availability of natural gas lines, an issue in the Northeast, where gas pipelines have historically been less common.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
And yet that's kind of what they do whenever they buy a hybrid vehicle.
I'm always amazed at how many people make irrational financial decisions just because they believe everything they read and hear from others.
Same problem in this part of Missouri. Gas pipes serve the cities but its either all electric or propane in the woods where we live. ‘swhy we spent money up front on a ground source heat pump with 4 200 foot wells under the driveway. Cheap heat and AC from 59 F. ground temp.
Here in Iowa every city has natural gas. Rural homes use propane. Nobody here that I know of uses home heating oil anymore because it is so uneconomical. I don’t understand why the NE has clung to home heating oil.
Quite simple. They won’t allow new pipelines to be built so even most heating oil is brought in by tanker. The enviros will see the country go to hell in a handbasket in order to stay pristine.
OB_one
Ya know, I use to go thru 2000 gal oil for my oil fired boiler every year; put woodburner in basement and wood cookstove upstairs; now 200 gallons a year for hot water.
Don’t figure they’ll ever control my ability to get firewood. As long as I can get to my woodlot, everythings just fine.
What about those pellet stoves I read about. Are they any good? Being in the south, a cellulite enhanced wife is about all you need for heat. I stay plenty warm;-)
Bingo, bingo, bingo.
Excellent source of heat and cooling. Heat pumps are pretty efficient down to 30 or so, ground source takes that figure down to what ever you want.
I live in NC and converted from a HP to 90 % eff. gas about 10 yrs ago.
With the rise in NG prices I wish I had kept a HP.
If I change my heating system again I'll go 'dual fuel'. Heat pump and aux gas.
Heat pump to about 30 deg. and change over to gas below that.
We have NG in staggering huge quantities. Just a matter of getting our thumbs out and telling the enviromarxists to bugger off.
Florida coast drilling is opposed by conservatives,
it more than a left-right issue. Its a NIMBY issue.
Only problem w/geothermal is cost of putting down loops. 10 years ago, it was $1000/loop or four grand for your loops, then add cost of equipment. No telling what is is now. Payback time can take awhile and if compressor fails, which I saw a few, may never pay back. If you go with GT, make sure you have backup heat strips. Duel fuel was also high $$ up front.Whats the old saying, pay me now or pay me later.
A bout 10 yrs. the house I bought had a heat pump.
I endured one winter with that piece of junk. It was an old system.
I installed a new air handler, condenser gas furnace, heat pump ‘A’ coil.
The next year I installed a new condenser, straight cool.
Natural gas was cheap. My highest gas bill as around $40/mo. in the coldest weather.
Times and gas prices have changed. Had I been smart, I would have install a Heat pump condenser. Would have cost a few dollars more at the time.
Wired it to use electric heat to around 30 deg. and switch over to gas below that.
A lot of it has to do with infrastructure. It's a system that has been run on oil for most of it's history and they can't seem to change. There is no pipeline and there are too many oil companies that are beholden to the politicians and vice-versa.
People are slow to change and to be honest a lot people believe that oil is more economical than gas.
You may still be able to swap the outdoor unit to HP depending on what kind of metering device you have on the indoor coil. If its not captube, its do-able. TXV or accurator can be made to work with HP. Just FYI. Yes, I wired my heatpump to bring on strips and lock out HP at 40’f.
The American people, to the extent that they subscribe to the political opinions of The New York Times with full knowledge of their consequences, deeply desire greatly increased energy prices, shortages, and consequent economic collapse so that they can freeze in the dark alongside their neighbors, who of necessity will make such drastic cultural change sufficiently popular.
The AP read the article in Forbes and then parroted it with words from a shill dug up in New Jersey..
Sounds like global warming is arriving just in time ... what it’s only gone up 1 degree in the last century? Never mind then.
Somehow, I hope the American peopel do not want economic collapse but I can believe it of Democrat politicians.
I like my oil. If there’s an earthquake, I have 300 gallons of warmth, all I need do is fire up the propane genset. I don’t have the ability to store natural gas, and pipelines have a tendency to fail when the earth moves.
I’ve also got 2 cords of firewood stacked behind the house, and another 5 stacked and waiting at the woodlot.
There’s also the 30 gallons of stabilized gasoline, and all the vehicles have full tanks.
Natural gas is fine, provided you’re in an area that doesn’t have moving ground, and you don’t mind piping an explosive into your living quarters.
Probably have a yearly "inspection fee" within ten years...
It’s TXV. I made sure of that.
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