need new furnace propane one is done replace with electric?
 

Hey guys I posted yesterday about a leaking propane furnace 80 000 btu. Turns out the tanks were almost empty hence why it smelled there was no leak. But the tech said I really need a new furnace as this one is dripping soot and water out areas it shouldnt. My sister has the same one and had to have it replaced last year as it had a cracked heat exchanger they are both the same age about 24 years old so it is time for a new one.

The problem is I dont have 5k to replace it my sisters cost 4300 last year, I could put this into my mortgage or have my propane provider put one in for me with monthly payments.

I was thinking though that I could get an electric furnace for much less until i save up cash to pay for a new propane furnace. Does this sound like a good idea

Electricity costs a lot more than propane. The electric furnace will cost around a thousand plus installation and you gotta pay an electrician to run the wiring for it and then your monthly heating bills will be more until you save up. Better to do it right the first time.

Oh and 4300 sounds high for a 80k btu furnace. Shop around.

4300 is installation included but 15% tax on top yeah we get fleeced on alot of things in Canada

Electricity is high and going higher.

I've seen gas furnaces for not much more than electric and the propane conversion is only 50 bucks or so. Canada might be different but here installation is rarely more than parts. It only takes a couple hours or less to switch out an existing furnace.

Like for like exchange shouldn't be too hard to do. I replace my oil burner with a natural gas one myself. I had a tech come in for the final hookups. He gouged me for what he actually did, but I still saved a boatload over paying for a full install.

Geothermal though initially is costly you will recoup in 5-10 years. Our water furnace has a 50 yr warranty on the loop and 15 on the unit. 400-500% efficient...so for every dollar you spend in electric you get 5 bucks out of the earth in heat or cooling. You have to have enough land or a pond though for the loops unless you go deep well which is big money

When you say electric furnace, you aren't referring to a heat pump are you? Heat pumps (A/C in reverse) work fine down to about 32 F, but then the resistance coils come on and they are no better than base board or any other resistance type electric heat. I can't imagine they would be much good in most of Canada.

Depending on the price of propane/electric, you can actually come out better in some areas with electric. Figure out your rates then use a calculator like this one (haven't actually tried it, others may be better) http://www.maxmcarter.com/fuels/fuelscalc.html

How have your sister's bills been since she switched over? The only problem is that whatever system you pick you may have it for another 24 years through ups and downs in the energy market. The upside to electric is that rates (at least around here) move up slowly over time and you don't get the big spikes and retreats that you get with propane. Certainly makes it easier to budget. Plus you don't have to worry about tanks, getting them filled, CO or gas leaking. There are definite benefits...

Is wood an option? If not, you might want to at least consider a pellet/corn stove, the "chimney" they use isn't that much different than the exhaust vent on a gas furnace. If it is available, natural gas is real cheap right now, but that could change in a hurry...

If you have the option, explore every alternative to heating with electricity. Terribly expensive.
And don't ever install the kind that require ceiling vents; the top one-third of your room will be warm, but down where the people are is always cold.

Furnaces were rated @ 70 % eff [standing pilot, natural draft] 80% [pilotless, fan assisted draft] and 90% [forced draft cooled to use PVC pipe, condensing with fluid draining from it, probably sealed combustion with all air directly from outdoors]. If your was leaking water it is probably a 90%. You should be able to get an 80% installed for under $2000 Canadian and IMO, the extra fuel savings of the 90% make it tough to pay for given their component life. Call around, get three bids and if they are not within $100 of each other find out why. Go with someone who has a history of working in your area and who you are comfortable having in your home.

I always do my own work .If you can install it you should find one wholesale on the internet for $1,200 or even half that . Would say half anyway . Folks get to pay all the installers bills including his wife's new kitchen sink . To change to electric you need a lot bigger wiring and room for the extra breakers in the box .

Folks want all repair people to be licensed ,bonded and insured then the installer wants a new truck and house to boot . You get to pay for all of it .

sawmill jim you sound like you have it exactly right I found one online that is 80 000 btu for 698 canadian and another one that is 90 000 and 97% efficient for $1100 it seems like it would pretty much swap straight out with the one I already have. I think that here in Canada you have to have it installed by someone who is Wet. certified or something like that however im going to check into that as if i can do it myself and save 3k i will do it myself.

Like I mentioned, that's what I did.

For most (all?) insurances the hookups have to be done by a licensed professional. I found one that was willing to let me do as much as I was comfortable with. When he showed up, he ran about 12ft of gas line, 20ft of ground wire, and testfired the boiler.

I had removed the old one, plumbed in the new water lines, ran the electrical (forgot the extra ground), filled the lines and purged the air. If I wasn't switching from oil to gas I probably wouldn't have needed him at all.

The 97% one will pay for itself very quickly. My heating bills in the winter went from ~$900/mo to $175 max. And that includes keeping my home about 5 degrees warmer than before.

What brand are you looking at?

If you go with the 90% make sure you have a way to drain the condensate water, then see if your old vent pipe is straight up so you can put a 2" pvc pipe up to about 5" from your roof vent. If that is all ok then go with the 90% as you save money 2 ways, 1 you will only put a nickle up the vent pipe for every dollar you spend on gas, instead of 20 to 30 cent. 2 you can go down on BTU to start with. A good furnace should set you back $800 to $1,200. If you have AC connected to it make sure the cabnet size is the same so you can just prop the coil up slide the old one out and put the new in.

I would change it out and not tell the world just be sure you do it safely . Most modern heaters you just change the orifices to increase or decrease the btu's .If you do it yourself you might find a cheep manometer (spring with a gauge ) on the cheep to set your gas pressures with . When changing from natural gas to LP you need to set the pressure as near exact factory specks as you can . Also you can set you out side low pressure regulator with it . This is providing you have a regulator on the tank and one on the out side of the house .

Lot of so called pro's here put those regulators in the wrong place too . Like on a gas central unit or near a vent of the house . Both are bad idea's and dangerous too Also if you do this job use that real foil tape it is good stuff .

Is this a up flow or down flow set up ? In a former life i installed all sorts of units .

This is interesting--remember when I posted about water in my propane furnace awhile back? I have a 90%-and it has a drain pipe for the condensation, supposed to be connected to drain. Pipes shouldnt be glued either, nor should sediment bulb be glued in--all of which were done on mine--PLUS-the drain pipe was slanted back TO the furnace. THATS where my water came from--a hole drilled in elbow of drain pipe ran water for 10 minutes!! Is this possible on yours??

I didn't read all the posts, but I wouldn't recommend an electric furnace for anyone. I had never had one till we moved to Georgia. The first winter here we were never able to get the house really warm enough and had horrendous electric bills on top of it. We quickly learned our lesson. We now have a kerosene heater and a woodstove. Keeps the house nice and comfortable.

no, in Canada you have to have it inspected by a G2. WETT is only wood and OBT is oil heat. most places will not sell you a furnace if you are not licensed. make sure it is inspected for Canada. price is about what i would pay here, no duty or shipping though!

my furnace exhaust come out parallel to the floor about 3 feet high then 8 inches out it goes straight up and runs across the ceiling to the outside " however it takes a bit of an angle around the furnace so there is an elbow there , this is one of the areas where it drips some water looks like the pvc was glued and the glue ate it a bit. also where the exhaust start to go up to the ceiling there is a white pipe going straight down this is also leaking a bit from the bottom it just has a rubber bottom stuck on with a pipe clamp.. there is a small pvs pipe running from this pipe about 2 feet up that runs to a drain in my floor water also come out there. the white pipe and the small pvc pipe both leak soot with the water but not the one up near the ceiling.

The smell of propane is gone the tanks were just almost empty. supposed to be on auto fill but somehow got changed and they were waiting for a call from me to fill the tank. Now when i smell where i could smell propane before it smells a little sweet but bites my nose like smelling vinegar does, this air is slighty warm, its coming out from where the propane line enters the furnace. I have a c0 and propane detector both reading 0

the guy who came out and checked for a leak didnt really check my furnace out much but told me i need a new one. however my furnace has worked like this since buying the house and it was just inspected when i bought the place. hes telling me the air exhange is probably craked but didnt even look in the furnace. and he said there is no propane leaking. I may see if this one will last me till spring then i can get a new one when it aint so cold

Get you a carbon moniside rector put in in front of a vent . If the exchanger is cracked it should read .

Get a second opinion. If he didnt even look in the furnace he might just be trying to sell you something you dont need. But 24 years old it probably is about time.

I am going to get a new furnace but hope to delay it till spring

As long as the co detector isn't going off your probably good for awhile. Still might get a second opinion now just in case it is cracked and dangerous and if it's ok to last til spring you can at least get a better idea of the price in advance.

If you are not getting a co2 reading inside your house and the high limit switch (usually about 160 Degrees farh), isn't going out and causing your fan to run and not lighting. I would say you don't have a cracked heat exchanger.

Since you said your exhaust is in 2"pvc it is a 90% furnace. Make sure the small pvc drain pipe is not freezing where it goes out to drain. If it is, it will overflow by your furnace and that will cause it to leak. at any loose connection. If it has a free drain it should go out easily. I know nothing about Can., but check on line wholesalers. Now that R22 freon is not sold many of the HVAC places will sell to you. No One but you has to know you put it in (Saw mill) had it right. Also order a lp kit with the unit about 30 bucks. It will have the orfices and springs you need, it is simple to do.

I"m not a pro, but I didn't know condensing furnaces were that old. I thought they were only from the last decade or so. He said his furnace is 24 years old.

lennox had the pulse about 20 years ago and a few others were in that range to. But I have never heard of a straight combustion furnace vented in pvc and he said it is so I can only go by that.

Canada was probably ahead of the US getting the high efficiency furnaces more common.

personally I would never make myself totally dependent on electricity..too fickle

I woulld goo out and get a second opinion also, I would not switch to eletric just cause the cost is going up no matter where you live. In minnesota it costs alot. It sounds like you might be able to make it a while until spring which is only 4 months away.

Condensing furnaces first came out in Idaho in 82. The Duomatic Olsen company I believe was out of Canada at that time. By my math thats 31 years.