Getting my head around the "furnace" business- Any ideas?
Hi All-
I have acquire a SF rental property and a MF-6 unit property.
The SF has an oil furnace and window AC units. The oil tank is located is in the basement, there is Natural gas at the property and I am debating whether to get rid of the 30 year old functioning oil furnace as the flip market in this area mostly comprise of central air. Will this require changes to ductwork? I have never made the switch from oil to has before. Are there any better options?
For MF, there is an oil boiler. LL is responsible for paying for heat and water. The boiler is quite old, but have a tech who says he can "switch" it to a gas kit and discard the large oil tanks for 7K. Someone else recommends against this approach due to difference between how energy is consumed by oil boiler and gas boiler and I don't really fully understand the difference. However, oil is pretty expensive. Changing to a new gas boiler is approx 14K. And there is no central mechanism, its window AC in all units. Any ideas?
We switched from oil to gas in our personal residence. There were some minor ductwork changes but we were also adding an addition on at the time and I don't remember the details. I may not be reading your question correctly. I just want to clarify that the furnace is a forced air system? If so, you should be able to add central air without replacing the oil furnace- although you often get a discount by replacing them at the same time (at least where I live). Call a few HVAC companies in your area to get quotes and compare systems. Good luck!
#2 Contractors Contributor
- Severna Park, MD
On your boiler the tech is right , switch it out to a new gas boiler with the higher effiency . Retro fitting the old one will be throwing money into the wind .
As far as an oil furnace on the single family , odds are the ductwork is sized just for heat , it may not have the flow for AC . But its possible . A good HVAC guy should be able to size up your situation .
