Is natural gas conversion a slam dunk?

May 26, 2008 10:21 AM

Other than the cost of switching, is it pretty reasonable to convert from oil to natural gas? I own my home, and am unlikely to move.
posted by portabella to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

What's prompting this decision? If it's the price of oil that's got you worried, beware that natural gas extraction in North America has already passed its peak, and its price is widely expected to increase in the coming years.

Insulating and draft-proofing your house, replacing windows, and to a lesser extent installing a solar hot water heating system will all save you more money in the long run.
posted by anthill at 10:47 AM on May 26, 2008

Unless you already need to replace the furnace/boiler, it's probably not worth it. However, if you do need to replace it anyway, it's very probably worth it. NG heat is more efficient than fuel oil heat, and (IME) it's cleaner -- fewer particulates in the exhaust, f'rex. As a bonus, once you have gas piped to the house, you can then go to gas for the water heater and the dryer.
posted by jlkr at 12:16 PM on May 26, 2008

FWIW NG pricing is somewhat regulated. Oil seems to go up just when you need it the most. I have been asking this question too, and a dealer suggested the following formula. Efficiency difference between old furnace and new X average price of fuel = annual savings. His assumption was that eventually oil and NG would be priced the same per BTU. So if the new system is 10% more efficient it will be a 10 year payback period. Assuming the above, which I think is wrong, and NG will always be unit cost cheaper than oil.
posted by Gungho at 3:54 PM on May 26, 2008