Buying house with oil heat

[Rand]

Depends where and when. I know many years the overall costs by me were close. Many years from talking to friends that have very similar house, their gas cost was higher than my oil cost. Difference is I need to pay when filled up, they get monthly bill.

Sounds off.

1million btu of natural gas is about 4$ here.
standard offer is currently $3.38+ distro fees = $4
going upto around 5$ this winter.

that is aprox 7 gallons of heating oil(btu) for $5

Heating oil here is aprox 2.90 to 4.30 per gallon.

edit: yes I'm rounding in favor of heating oil. its actually closer to 7.5gallons.

Last time I did the calculation for propane near me it was 9.5-11x more expensive than natural gas.

Depending on location/climate, one of the new cold climate heat pumps may be cheaper to run than Oil

A heat pump with an average COP of 3 would need just under 100kwh for 1million btu. which last year would have cost me $14-$16 this year $22+

 

[RBT]

Sounds off.

1million btu of natural gas is about 4$ here.
standard offer is currently $3.38+ distro fees = $4
going upto around 5$ this winter.

that is aprox 7 gallons of heating oil(btu) for $5

Heating oil here is aprox 2.90 to 4.30 per gallon.

edit: yes I'm rounding in favor of heating oil. its actually closer to 7.5gallons.

Last time I did the calculation for propane near me it was 9.5-11x more expensive than natural gas.

Depending on location/climate, one of the new cold climate heat pumps may be cheaper to run than Oil

A heat pump with an average COP of 3 would need just under 100kwh for 1million btu. which last year would have cost me $14-$16 this year $22+

I would prefer natural gas. It’s what we have now.

But this house sits about 150 feet back from the street and even assuming the street has the lines, from growing up in a contractor family it’s at least a $50k job to bring a gas line into the house, if not more. Adding that into the equation makes the amortization period too long and speculative to be worthwhile. That is why I would add a second heat pump/ AC set up when the older AC unit needs to be replaced. But I don’t mind having an oil heat back up as my experience with mini splits (good ones Carrier and Mitsubishi) is once you get down into the 20s they lose effectiveness.

Thank you all again for the help and insights.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I would prefer natural gas. It’s what we have now.

But this house sits about 150 feet back from the street and even assuming the street has the lines, from growing up in a contractor family it’s at least a $50k job to bring a gas line into the house, if not more. Adding that into the equation makes the amortization period too long and speculative to be worthwhile. That is why I would add a second heat pump/ AC set up when the older AC unit needs to be replaced. But I don’t mind having an oil heat back up as my experience with mini splits (good ones Carrier and Mitsubishi) is once you get down into the 20s they lose effectiveness.

Thank you all again for the help and insights.

I have same scenario with gas last time I checked here. The closest gas main is up the road at intersection 1400 feet away. Gas company runs 100 feet for free as part of hook up. After that it's $100/foot = $130,000 which is not happening. They did say if I could get all the houses every 100 feet to convert to gas it would be where they would run it for free. Still need to do all the conversions. I have some newer neighbors that our conversations were what oil company/service any gas options. I told them to call and they came back with same story.

My old house they ran gas down the street many years after I installed my new system. Wife didn't want gas as every time we discussed it there was some explosion version in the news. The guy and his wife who bought my house wanted gas. He asked for estimates from a couple plumbers and they all told him the same. Keep everything I had and just get a Carlin gas conversion head as everything was setup very well. They said it would take a long time for the efficiency payback vs cost to rip out and redo.

 

[repairman54]

I put my own oil fired hot water heat in my old house 27 yrs. ago. Oil was cheap back then, house had electric heat when I bought it. Ranch with full basement and wood stove in basement so chimney already in place making it easy to run the pipes and set the boiler. Hot water coil in the Utica boiler. No natural gas in town and then oil was the easiest and cheapest route vs propane when doing a DIY.
275 tank in the basement.
Does the oil tank top feed the boiler or is it bottom feed ? Bottom feed lessens any water in the tank so less chance of rust.
I have a Bacharac combustion analyzer so I had it running at max. efficiency. No soot build up internally at all.
Old school General oil filter got changed every fall, with spares on hand in case of a bad oil load.
I kept the hot water loop in when I went back to an electric water heater when oil got expensive. On power outages I had hot water when running the boiler on a 5600k portable gen set by flipping 2 valves.
Like any machine its all about who services / maintains it and their work ethic. In those years I had it I only needed one burner control box and a few zone valve motors.
In a snow zone, keep tank access clear, delivery guy will never bypass your delivery.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Sounds off.

1million btu of natural gas is about 4$ here.
standard offer is currently $3.38+ distro fees = $4
going upto around 5$ this winter.

that is aprox 7 gallons of heating oil(btu) for $5

Heating oil here is aprox 2.90 to 4.30 per gallon.

edit: yes I'm rounding in favor of heating oil. its actually closer to 7.5gallons.

Last time I did the calculation for propane near me it was 9.5-11x more expensive than natural gas.

Depending on location/climate, one of the new cold climate heat pumps may be cheaper to run than Oil

A heat pump with an average COP of 3 would need just under 100kwh for 1million btu. which last year would have cost me $14-$16 this year $22+

“ that is approx 7 gallons of heating oil ( btu) for $5. “

Same thoughts. 7 x a minimum of $2.90 which is $20.30.

 

[SOUNDMAN5000]

We had central oil heat in the 70's growing up in the South, dad changed out to Natural Gas in the 80's and so did ALL our neighbors. I started selling Real Estate in the early 90's and even in the 90's in my area a house that still had oil heat would not sell or the buyer would negotiate a new natural gas or perhaps a heat pump new HVAC system.

However a few hour drive away in the NC Mountains I still at times see houses with oil heat.
In my circles I remember oil heat was considered warm but dirty.

And then you have the possible leaking oil tank under ground in the back yard that could leave a home owner IMO on the hook for possible future MEGA EPA issues, you may not even know a tank is in the ground but a leaking oil tank can mess up ground water.

 

[Snagglefoot]

One thing that is missing from all this is what is the expected oil consumption per year for the house. Unless a major reno was done the insulation in a 1940 house is archaic. Also, where is the house and what is the going rate for home heating fuel in the area.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Important info left out. What state/location is this in?

Oil heat is expensive and requires considerable maintenance. . not as bad $$$ as propane but probably 5x the cost of natural gas.

I just saw your note. I just posted essentially the same thing. I’m also blown away by the $100 per ft they want to run a gas line line beyond 100 ft. We need to know how many gallons per year that 1940 house would go through to make any recommendation.

 

[Snagglefoot]

That rate of $100 per ft is about 5 times what it costs in Alberta, the land of natural gas, even after taking in the dollar conversion rate.

 

[RBT]

One thing that is missing from all this is what is the expected oil consumption per year for the house. Unless a major reno was done the insulation in a 1940 house is archaic. Also, where is the house and what is the going rate for home heating fuel in the area.

Winter is variable here. Oil company that serviced the house told me historic consumption was 500 gallons on the low side to 1000 gallons in one particularly cold year.

The house has had extensive renovations and is a quality build. We will remove an older french door and replace it with a picture window, but for the most part things have been reasonably updated.

Oil tank is in the basement. Was swept and cleaned regularly. IF there are any leaks, we will see them.

Finally, we have natural gas at present and that would be my preference. But it is not cost effective given what it would take to run the lines in this area. The local governments are also actively discouraging natural gas installations and making it difficult.

 

[Zee09]

I have oil heat in the house I'm out now. A house i just sold had propane which for heating I prefer since I owned the tank. Not interested in propane if I don't own the tank.

Lived in oil heated houses for over 60 years. I don’t like the start up smell or how oil heat sucks the oxygen out of the air. As I get older oil heat bothers me. Brings on asthma in my case.
The furnace is well maintained too

 

[Sequoiasoon]

New York has multiple ban things going. All new construction in NYC last I knew had to be electric only. No oil, no gas. In the summer when heat wave hits they already send out, don't charge your cars, reduce AC use etc. Just not what I'm looking for when things go wrong.

I can fire up my gas generator and keep my heat on. I did that during hurricane Sandy. All cars were fueled, spare cans full. I put generator on a couple times a day to get hot water for showers, warm the house, fridge/freezer. The gas stations around us didn't have power or generators so fuel was an issue. Natural gas and a NG generator would have been nice BUT again at over $130k, not happening. Best I can do is Heat Manager on boiler, Oil Vent Damper on flue, keep it tuned.

I just got a heat pump setup 2-3 years ago. I haven't tried running it from generator yet. Not sure I want to as generator is OLD and I don't want to fry anything in the HP.

 

[walterjay]

I like gas heat. Nice and clean. I had it in previous 3 homes. Too bad they want so much to run a line to your house.

On a side note, here in Maryland there is a push on to eliminate all forms of gas and oil heating including propane. They want everybody to go heat pump. Stupid people in office who do not understand much.

 

[Zee09]

I like gas heat. Nice and clean. I had it in previous 3 homes. Too bad they want so much to run a line to your house.

On a side note, here in Maryland there is a push on to eliminate all forms of gas and oil heating including propane. They want everybody to go heat pump. Stupid people in office who do not understand much.

I have a hybrid unit and I go auxiliary to oil because electric costs are up and I don’t like the extended run time of the heat pump

 

[SOUNDMAN5000]

When buying the home did you or your agent ASK the seller to pay for that gas line and replace that oil heat? If not, you may have done better with a more aggressive and informed buyers agent or if you have not closed I would have your agent do that now! But it sounds like you are OK with oil, I would not be....

 

[Chris142]

Nothing like that here. Can you throw used motor oil at it?

 

[RBT]

When buying the home did you or your agent ASK the seller to pay for that gas line and replace that oil heat? If not you may have done better with a more aggressive and informed buyers agent or if you have not closed I would have your agent do that now! But it sounds like you are OK with oil, I would not be....

Respectfully, I am a transactional and securities lawyer by trade, and my wife is an experienced litigator, so we both have a fairly decent sense of how to negotiate. There is no way on earth these sellers or any others would agree to take that cost. You can ask for anything, but if you actually want to conclude the transaction, the asks have to be within the market of what is reasonable. Asking the sellers to run a gas line, rip out a working functional oil furnace, and replace it with a NG furnace is not a reasonable request given the cost, time, and expense involved, particularly in a jurisdiction that is actively looking to phase out gas connections (idiotic, but I don't get to control such things).

As I mentioned several posts above, the second zone of the AC for the house is older, but it is a Carrier so it is still working, and it is not my style to replace equipment when it doesn't need to be replaced. We are careful with money. If/when that unit dies, we will replace it with a heat pump. That would mean the house has two zone AC / heat pump, and an oil furnace for essentially back-up heat. That solution (replacement of AC with heat pump) will cost $10k or so according to an HVAC person we use. Your solution would cost 10x to 15x that solution. Again, with all respect, it's not a reasonable request. The correct approach is to reduce the need to use the oil furnace for all but the really cold weather and rely on the more modern, efficient HVAC equipment for the other 80-90 percent of the time.

 

[SOUNDMAN5000]

Respectfully, I made a living as a Real Estate Broker, owner of a Real Estate Company and "flipper" of many. many homes over the last 31 years. All I can offer is my opinion based on my personal experiences and the advice I have offered to my Buyer Clients over the years. Bottom line, I would not buy a property with oil heat in 2025. Thats MY opinion...

 

[CDX825]

Respectfully, I made a living as a Real Estate Broker, owner of a Real Estate Company and "flipper" of many. many homes over the last 31 years. All I can offer is my opinion based on my personal experiences and the advice I have offered to my Buyer Clients over the years. Bottom line, I would not buy a property with oil heat in 2025. Thats MY opinion...

I don't think you realize how many houses are still using oil heat in 2025. And these houses sell every day. Oil is very common in the country. Most of New England is still heavily oil heat only. Parts of New York city are still using oil. Its everywhere.

Natural gas might be common in your area but its not everywhere.

 

[SOUNDMAN5000]

I don't think you realize how many houses are still using oil heat in 2025. And these houses sell every day. Oil is very common in the country. Most of New England is still heavily oil heat only. Parts of New York city are still using oil. Its everywhere.

Natural gas might be common in your area but its not everywhere.

Fair enough as I have never lived and only visited you folks up north a few times in my years.
In my area of the South East oil heat went away almost 100% in the 80's... Natural Gas and heat pumps are the norm.