John wrote:

"Pete C." wrote:

trimmed

Exactly where is this spotty gas service that you speak of?

Anywhere outside urban and close suburban areas. There are vast areas
without nat. gas service and many of those areas are also in colder
climates where backup is more critical. There wasn't gas service where I
was in CT and there isn't gas service where I am now either.

Well obviously if there is no nat gas service and propane isn't feasible, oil would be a way
to go in climates too cold for heat pumps to work well. Oil. Cleaner than Coal.

Propane is even more dangerous than nat. gas. Because it is heavier than
air it is even less likely to dissipate from a leak in a house. Because
it is not a pipeline service you have to store a large quantity on-site
in a tank that you can't smoke/grill/whatever around and that has to be
outside where it is exposed to the weather and more likely to rust than
an oil tank in a basement.





In those areas they are
typically in basements to they are not consuming heated air.

The basement air is sealed from the air upstairs?

To a large extent yes. Warm air also rises so you aren't going to get
warm air from upstairs going downstairs. Indeed waste heat from the
furnace is rejected into the surrounding area and that warmer basement
air will rise and warm the floors above slightly.

Wow! I've never seen a house where the basement air was sealed from the house air. It's
nice to know that the air "consumed" into the oil burner wouldn't need to be made up from
air leaking into the house via window gaps, exhaust fans, cracks etc.

Air typically leaks into basements just fine through garage doors which
are damn near impossible to seal, utility penetrations, dryer vents and
other basement openings. You won't generally see a draft sucking under
the gap at the bottom of the one basement door.

Pete C.