Conversion from Electric heat to oil ?

[TheTimeTraveler]

Originally Posted by bigdog

Boy... am I bouncing between Forums this week.. Yikes !

I'm looking at a property that has electric heat. I would never live in a house with electric heat !

I had a house years ago, a ranch, with electric heat, and converted to oil, it was rather an easy conversion.. Had a furnace installed in the basement, vented through chimney 'I built', and all baseboard was installed, up through the basement ceiling. I think this could be done for about $10,000. $5k for the furnace, $5k for the baseboards and labor, maybe I'm underestimating ?

Was thinking I could do same with the property in question, at least for the first floor. House actually has two chimneys, one in the living room, the other in the basement. If it chimney has 2 flues, I'll put in a wood or pellet stove, in the basement.

It's a very nice house, in the area I like, with a great view of the mountains.

Thoughts ?

Many new oil/gas heat installations no longer use a true chimney for venting; you could save yourself a step and vent directly out thru the side of the foundation if your building inspector will permit it. Worth checking out!




.

[2islandboy]

Mini-split heat pumps. Mitsubishi FH series. Single not multi units. Several units spaced around your home. Incredibly efficient. The technology seems to improve yearly. They are so efficient that you can run them on a small standby generator. Dead silent.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by TheTimeTraveler

Many new oil/gas heat installations no longer use a true chimney for venting; you could save yourself a step and vent directly out thru the side of the foundation if your building inspector will permit it. Worth checking out!




.

In this part of the country, one cautionary note: Be aware of keeping vent clear of snow, for the obvious reason.

Same applies to dryer vents.

Dave

[2islandboy]

The technology is improving so quickly that the Consumer Reports article, dated 2016 is somewhat out of date. I have a Mitsubishi FH single mini-split and it will deliver full rated heat down to 5deg outside temp. Below that, it will still provide tons of heat but is less efficient. Here is a link to pdf with technical details:
jackmansinc.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/mitsubishi-m-series-brochure.pdf

The SEER of the newest units is around 30!!! Installation is easy. My neighbor has a Fugitsu Mini and loves it, even in mid-winter. I think that most electric utilities will give a tax credit/installation credit. Not sure of the details.

The logic behind using, for example, three smaller single units is that they cost about the same as a three head multi, but with fewer long tubing runs and if one goes down, you haven't lost the whole system. They are very reliable and have good warranties. I do not sell them, but I'm an engineer and just really like the technology.

[Slickcraft]

We have Mitsubishi mini splits at home and out on Welch, a great product. They could solve your entire problem.

Some thoughts:

If you still go for forced hot water (oil or gas fired) on the 1st floor then consider adding a basement zone rather than a pellet stove. One less appliance. Now matter what, use mini splits at least on the 2nd floor. Reliable heat and A/C in the summer.

[Biggd]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

We have Mitsubishi mini splits at home and out on Welch, a great product. They could solve your entire problem.

Some thoughts:

If you still go for forced hot water (oil or gas fired) on the 1st floor then consider adding a basement zone rather than a pellet stove. One less appliance. Now matter what, use mini splits at least on the 2nd floor. Reliable heat and A/C in the summer.

I added a room over my 2 car garage and we only use it in the summer as an extra sleeping area for the grandkids but I'm thinking about adding heat and at the same time adding heat to the garage. I was leaning towards a Propane forced hot air furnace but a duel outlet mini split sounds like it would be more efficient and give me A/C also even though I'm not looking to put A/C in the garage. Would they be comparable in installation costs? The garage is all open to the studs and floor joists at the moment so installing ductwork wouldn't a big issue.

[TiltonBB]

I have mini splits and they are extremely economical for heat and air conditioning.

One of them is in a 3 level rental house with one unit outside feeding the three heads. It takes a little bit of an education process to have the tenants understand that the units will either put out heat or A/C but it cannot do both at the same time. So if someone on one floor switches to A/C while the other two heads are on heat it will stop functioning. For that reason I now wish that I had three separate units installed but other than that they are excellent.

They newer models get more efficient every year so sometimes the local vendors have used units that are only a few years old for sale at a discount when people trade them in to upgrade.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Biggd

I added a room over my 2 car garage and we only use it in the summer as an extra sleeping area for the grandkids but I'm thinking about adding heat and at the same time adding heat to the garage. I was leaning towards a Propane forced hot air furnace but a duel outlet mini split sounds like it would be more efficient and give me A/C also even though I'm not looking to put A/C in the garage. Would they be comparable in installation costs? The garage is all open to the studs and floor joists at the moment so installing ductwork wouldn't a big issue.

I do not know the numbers, and every install is unique, but I'm almost certain the installation labor is lower with mini splits--no ductwork at all, no need to worry about venting--you just need to run a couple of lines between the inside unit and the outside.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by 2islandboy

The SEER of the newest units is around 30!!!

That SEER rating is amazing! I had the Mitsubishi's installed at my island camp a few years ago and even since then the technology has just got better every year. The newer hyper heat models are amazing!

Highly recommended!

Dan