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Robert Gammon

wrote:
Pete C. wrote:

But clearly this whole argument against nat
gas heat is all based on emotion, rather than fact. The price of
heating oil varies. The price of nat gas varies. Over the past, in my
experience, they have been similar enough in their total cost that it's
not a major difference.

Completely false. This argument against nat. gas is based on facts about
it's safety, reliability, cleanliness and the service life of the
equipment. I have ignored price per BTU since that is constantly in
flux.

When you provide links or other credible references that show nat gas
is unsafe, unreliable, unclean and has a short service life, then I'll
say it's based on fact, rather than emotion. I've had 25+ years of
nat gas heat and not a single outage do to eqpt failure or lack of nat
gas supply. I've lived in homes with oil burners that failed right
and left over similar time frames. I've also provided you with many
links that completely refute your claims. Other than you own
assertions and observations, you've provided zippo to support any of
your arguments.

I asked before, if nat gas is so damn inferior, why is it that it's
continuing to gain market share vs oil heat and only 4% of new homes
today use oil heat? Is everyone stupid except you?

Price is the only argument made in favor of nat. gas that has even short
term validity. All other arguments in favor of nat. gas have been based
on either myths, or comparisons of brand new gas equipment to 50yr old
oil equipment.

Only according to you of course.

is subject to outages and is far

more dangerous than oil.

With oil you have multiple suppliers in competition that you can choose
from,

Who all have to buy from the same source yielding little difference in
price.

you have an on-site fuel supply that is not subject to outages

No outage here in 35 years.

I've asked several times where Pete lives that he thinks nat gas
interruption is a big concern.

And I've mentioned several times that I'm referring to the northeast.
It's CT in particular where I lived for 36 years before moving a couple
years ago.

It obviously isn't for 95% of us who
use it. I've had nat gas service for 25+ years, that has never gone
out once. I live in central NJ, 50 miles from NYC. But I've sure had
electricity go out.

Indeed I did as well and when it did I simply started my generator and
went back about my normal business without more that a few minutes
interruption.

And it;s the nature of the two systems that's key.
An underground piped system is immune from much of what can halt
electric service. A thrunderstorm, snow storm, car hitting a pole,
all are common electric system weak points, that gas generally is
immune from.

You are ignoring the fact that it is possible and economical to provide
backup for the electricity, something that is not possible with the gas.

Whoppee de do! And what percent of people have requirements that need
a backup generator? Again, in 40+ years, I've never had one or been
in a situation that would justify it. What percentage of homes have
backup generators, that also come with their own whole set of issue?
I'd bet it's less than 1%, so why drag this into it?

Additionally time to repair a damaged electric line is significantly
less than time to repair a damaged gas line in most cases. You also
don't have to spend additional time purging a repaired electric line
before returning it to service as you do with a repaired gas line.

More theoretical BS. In practice, 25+ years and I HAVE NEVER HAD A
SINGLE GAS OUTAGE. You don't even have gas, so how the hell would
you know how reliable it is? And again, where do you live that the
nat gas system is so poor that outage is such a big deal?

in 28 years here in Houston TX, not a single gas outage EVER.
Electricity has failed, several times a year for a few seconds,
occassionally a transformer will blow and we'll be out for a few
hours. Longest service outage came during Hurricane Alicia where the
eye came directly over the top of the house in the first year after it
was built. Power was out for about 9 hours.

Live near a natural gas pipeline, within 500 yards. Live near a
railroad that carries upwards of 30 trains a day (only one or two
passenger trains) and that has had one or two significant derailments in
28 years. Never an evacuation here.

Natural gas is clean, and MORE reliable in delivery HERE than ANY other
heat source!!!! Propane comes a close second. A quick web search turns
up entries for folks that service the refining industry and not a SINGLE
residential heat oil delivery firm. Course this is far from conclusive
so I searched the 1200+ page local yellow pages. Only 9 entries and
checking those out, it will be DIFFICULT to find a reliable supplier of
home hating oil even here in the heart of the Texas refining area!!!!