Anybody using a direct vent oil furnace?

[John]

We're looking to buy a new home and the standard heat/cool system is a
heatpump. We hate the one we have now. The builder says, for no
charge, he would take out the heatpump and add a direct vent oil
furnace a central air.

Anybody have any experience with one of these puppies?

Thanks,
John

[Zack Zeitner]

John, I don't have any experience with owning a direct vent oil furnace,
however, I am currently in the process of building a house and I am getting
one installed. All I can say is that an oil furnace will be a lot cheaper to
run than the heat pump. The heat pump will not help when the weather is
below 30, and the oil is much warmer, better heat. I would also recommend
that you ask your builder on getting an oil hot water heater, which is also
a lot cheaper to run than an electric water heater! The extra money you will
spend on the oil hot water heater will pay itself off in savings in a few
years.
John <jmcelwe...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:37a4c6b0...@news.erols.com...

[John]

Thanks for the reply. Was it explained to you how it works?
I know that any oil fired furnace I've seen has always had some sort
of chimney. How much extra was it to get an oil hot water heater?

John

[chru...@nortel.ca]

John wrote:
>
> Thanks for the reply. Was it explained to you how it works?
> I know that any oil fired furnace I've seen has always had some sort
> of chimney. How much extra was it to get an oil hot water heater?

Guys,

My builder will be installing an oil furnace. They are supposed to be
very efficient and have a zero clearance chimney. They vent the thing
out a 4 or 6" pipe in the side of the house. Just like a dryer. My
builder has been using them in all of his rural homes and has heard
nothing but great things about them from those he built for..

Bruce,

[John]

Thanks for the reply. I'm just worried about soot on the siding. Any
trouble like that?

John

[Ecnerwal]

John wrote:

> Thanks for the reply. I'm just worried about soot on the siding. Any
> trouble like that?

Yes. And it doesn't clean off easily.

The school I work at put in two of these when they finally got rid of
the electric heat in one of the buildings. I hate them, though I hated
the electric heat even more ($$ out the wazoo). Aside from the soot, the
fans which operate the vent (with no chimney, there's no draft without
power) are noisy and die frequently - about once a year, from what I've
seen.

Especially vile is the fact that, venting at gound level, the furnace
which does the hot water heating sends fumes directly into the building
during the summer when the windows are open.

I would much rather have a chimney, even if it was an exterior steel
chimney (with a retrofit from electric, there was no space to put inside
chimneys in the building here). A chimney is quiet, has no moving parts
to fail, and gets the fumes & soot away from the building.

[drumme...@gmail.com]

You should do more research. I'm an HVAC technician , and it's well documented that most heat pumps air source or geothermal are way more efficient than any fossil fuel system ( gas, oil, or coal). As for the heat coming out of the ducts it's usually about seventy degrees and takes some getting used to especially if you had a conventional system before. If the back up electric heat kicks in air conning gone the ducts will be warmer. The back up heat only comes on if the outside temp is below the balance point. If you have a heat pump and think the air coming out of the ducts is too cool try having a humidifier installed on the system. It's a fact that if you raise the humidity slightly people will feel more comfortable at lower temperatures say 68 instead of 70 or 75 for example. Also a heat pump is cheaper to run in the summer and more efficient than central air. You can also save money by putting in a quality programmable thermostat so you are not heating or cooling when you aren't home. The other thing is that during heating season you won't be paying high oil bills. Electricity at least for the moment is cheaper than oil. Also keep in mind that you are combining to bills when you heat with a heat pump. So naturally your electrical bill will appear to be higher, but you won't be spending thousands a year on oil. I have had both systems in my homes and trust me heat pumps are way better. Also you don't have to worry about carbon monoxide from poorly adjusted oil burners!

[skip1...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 1, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, John wrote:
> We're looking to buy a new home and the standard heat/cool system is a
> heatpump. We hate the one we have now. The builder says, for no
> charge, he would take out the heatpump and add a direct vent oil
> furnace a central air.
>
> Anybody have any experience with one of these puppies?
>
> Thanks,
> John

Avoid power venter, Olsen makes a good direct vent oil furnace, had one for years