One of the projects that we planned to do before we even got the house was to convert the heating system from fuel oil to natural gas. Fuel oil is just so expensive and a bit of a pain (you need to get tanks filled, monitor tanks for leakage, clean the filter more often, and worry about the chimney).
As soon as we had moved in, Aaron started calling around to get some HVAC guys in for estimates. The first company to come out was CR Powers. The guy came early in the morning on Oct. 31 and was seriously only there for about 5 minutes - he went into the basement, looked at the current furnace, wrote a few things down, and left. He was supposed to email me the estimate, but something got screwed up and he ended up calling Aaron and sending it to him. He did get the estimate to us pretty quickly; they would charge us $3,500 for the conversion (including the new furnace) and $2,900 for central air-conditioning (a 2.5 ton unit) (for a total of about $6,400). Both the furnace and air-conditioner would be Bryant brand and the furnace would be a single-stage unit.
The next company to come out was Lebo's. The guy came in the morning of Nov. 1 and was there for quite some time (about 35-45 minutes). He inspected our current system, looked for every vent and return in the house, and measured everything (the vents, the rooms, and the windows - even noting which way the windows face). He asked questions about what we were looking for and explained things about the system and how the right size is selected, etc. I really appreciated his thoroughness. The negative regarding Lebo's was that it took over a week to get the estimate. The positive was that they gave us a good quote. They gave us three options (all using Bryant brand units): Option 1 was two-stage furnace (96.2%) and a two-stage 2-ton air-conditioner for $7,560.34; Option 2 was a single-stage furnace (95.5%) and a single-stage 2-ton air-conditioner for $6,076.97; and, Option 3 was a single-stage furance (92.1%) and a single-stage 2-ton air-condition for $5,256.29. (The percentages listed are the AFUE, or annual fuel utilization efficiencies; the higher they are, the better.)
We were originally going to stop with those two companies, but someone I know suggested trying Daflure because she went with them for a similar conversion because they gave her the best price. We called Daflure and they came out on the afternoon of Nov. 6. Much like the guy from Lebo's, this tech was there for quite some time as well. He wrote down a lot of things but didn't do all the same measurements as Lebo's; he did check out the duct system a bit, noting all the vents and returns. He actually sat down and wrote out an estimate right then. He gave me prices for two options - both used a single-stage 2-ton air-conditioner, but one had a two-stage furnace and the other had a single-stage furnace. Daflure uses Trane brand units. Unfortunately, I threw out the folder with the quote in it because the quotes were the highest we received... I can say that I remember the quote with the two-stage furnace being well over $7,000 and the quote with the single-stage furnace being around $6,750. They got a few bonus points for giving an immediate quote and explaining everything well, but not enough to overcome the increase in costs!
Anyway, Aaron and I originally talked about doing a two-stage furnace. A two-stage furnace essentially has two different levels of "on" - a high and a low. They are supposed to be more efficient and are able to maintain a more consistent temperatures compared to a single-stage furnace where the furnace is either on or off (so the temperature of the house must get a few degrees below the thermostat setting, then it powers on and heats the house a few degrees higher than the setting before shutting off). However, we have had a change of heart. Our original thought was that two-stage furnaces are more efficient and, though they are more expensive, it would save more money on the gas bill. However, if you look closely at the AFUE percentages from Lebo's estimate - the two-stage furnace is only .7% more efficient and quite a bit more expensive!
We have decided to go with Option #2 from Lebo's (the single-stage furnace (95.5%) and a single-stage 2-ton air-conditioner for $6,076.97). As it stands, we have almost a full tank of oil; they will buy the excess oil from us for $1 per gallon but that's so far under market value that it's best to just use up most of it. The guy from Lebo's suggested that we run the tank down to about 25% and then call to get the conversion scheduled. So that's the plan! I'm sure you'll hear more when we actually get around to having them come in and get the work done...
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