We've been waffling on replacing our furnace for a while, and have gotten no closer to a decision. I'm hoping someone here can offer some insight that will tilt the balance one way or other.
Considerations:
-Furnace is 50 years old, but still running well. Motor was refurbished last year. I've been told that given it's age, sudden, irreparable failure is increasingly possible, though. This would most likely happen during winter load, a time which would leave us little room to make ideal replacement choices.
-Current Gas bill is ~2000(CDN) a year. (~60 in summer, ~250 in winter).
-Based on conversations with furnace techs/gasfitters, I can expect to save 30% in my heating with a new furnace, which I expect would cost me $5400 (CDN) installed. ROI=~10 years.
-I expect to live in this place for roughly 10 more years - 5 min, 15 max. A new furnace would not contribute to home resale value, as house is a pulldown candidate and purchaser would be paying for location, not dwelling.
I'm really resisting the idea of forking out $5000 for our furnace, and am racking my brain for alternatives. Here's another one that's come to mind:
- Replace our old-skool gas fireplace in the basement with something high efficiency. I think this could be done for a grand, and it should be able to partially heat our 1000 sqft house in case of an emergency. This would give us time to get a wood stove installed up stairs (~3000) to augment our heat.
The benefits of this are that a woodstove costs less, and we can take it with us when we eventually move out. If the furnace continues to run for 10 years, then we've saved $4400.
Ideally, we'd never have to take this route, but it provides dual-fallback and saves us from forking out for a full furnace replacement.
OTOH, the simpler, more linear solution is just to replace our bloody furnace and eat the $5400. I just don't know.
What does everyone think?
Thanks,
Sandyclay.
Considerations:
-Furnace is 50 years old, but still running well. Motor was refurbished last year. I've been told that given it's age, sudden, irreparable failure is increasingly possible, though. This would most likely happen during winter load, a time which would leave us little room to make ideal replacement choices.
-Current Gas bill is ~2000(CDN) a year. (~60 in summer, ~250 in winter).
-Based on conversations with furnace techs/gasfitters, I can expect to save 30% in my heating with a new furnace, which I expect would cost me $5400 (CDN) installed. ROI=~10 years.
-I expect to live in this place for roughly 10 more years - 5 min, 15 max. A new furnace would not contribute to home resale value, as house is a pulldown candidate and purchaser would be paying for location, not dwelling.
I'm really resisting the idea of forking out $5000 for our furnace, and am racking my brain for alternatives. Here's another one that's come to mind:
- Replace our old-skool gas fireplace in the basement with something high efficiency. I think this could be done for a grand, and it should be able to partially heat our 1000 sqft house in case of an emergency. This would give us time to get a wood stove installed up stairs (~3000) to augment our heat.
The benefits of this are that a woodstove costs less, and we can take it with us when we eventually move out. If the furnace continues to run for 10 years, then we've saved $4400.
Ideally, we'd never have to take this route, but it provides dual-fallback and saves us from forking out for a full furnace replacement.
OTOH, the simpler, more linear solution is just to replace our bloody furnace and eat the $5400. I just don't know.
What does everyone think?
Thanks,
Sandyclay.
