wrote

a new more efficent furnace adds real resale value to a home

Not as much as a working fireplace. ?Everybody expects a home to have
a working furnace, and how efficient it is is sort of an abstraction

A working fireplace does, two working fireplaces have even more.
Conversely, a non-working fireplace and a crumbling chimney are really
huge downers for any buyer. ?I guarantee any realtor will tell you the

much a working fireplace really adds to a home's value; as cshenk
says, it does vary. ?In my area, it is pretty much a requirement, not
so much because people use them for heating anymore but because about
80% of homes still have them, so you're competing against those homes
when you sell. ?If it adds $30,000 to the value of the house and it
costs $30,000, then it's still worth it vs. spending $5,000 on a new

well that same 5 grand might go from a old inefficent 50% furnace to a
nice spiffy new 94% furnace cutting heating bills by nearly 50%

Which is why I'd do that too if my heating bills were high enough to make a
savings.

but say heating currently costs 5 grand, and new furnace can cut that
by 50%, in round numbers save 2500 a year. now live in home 10 years,
save 25 grand.

WOW! 5G? We are in the worst part of winter for us here and the bill was
180$. Then again, our neighbors (with no fireplaces) are spending 100$ a
month more than us. Smaller homes too. We are augmenting with the
fireplace. The other houses around us are between 800-900sq feet. We are
1100. I recon our bills should be 150$ more if the fireplace wasnt
offsetting it? 2 cords aged pre-split hardwood ran us 310$ but thats 2
years worth. We got the second cord this time because we couldnt remember if
we needed over 1 cord, or just under it. Looks like just under it.

End result, I am saving about 450$ a year after subtracting the cost of the
wood and based on my milder winters.

BTW, we can get the wood cheaper than that, but this fellow is really decent
and has an honest product well aged and properly split small before aging
for 2-3 years.