On 6-Jan-2004, "R Doornbosch" wrote:

the local heating guys who mentioned that
the delivery cost of natural gas keeps rising and that they think a new oil
furnace would cost less in the long run. Any ideas or comments?

Years ago they told everyone to switch to gas, since oil costs keep rising.
It's a cyclical thing - we used to heat with coal, coal oil, oil, now gas.
Every one has its day and advances in technology, changes in relative cost etc
will keep us changing heating methods every so often. If fusion technology
actually happens (1st fusion plant is scheduled to be build "soon") we may
end up switching to electric ground-source heat pumps.

What you want to do is go with the most efficient "system", not furnace.
A high efficiency furnace in a leaky, uninsulated house is not as good
as a low-efficiency heater in a well-insulated house. Some passive solar
houses use wood heat for a backup and wood heat is not very efficient -
it nonetheless creates a cost-effective solution.

If you have an _old_ inefficient furnace, replace it. Otherwise, fix
up the house so that the entire _system_ is efficient.

Mike