Hello everyone! I am hoping to find some answers from those in the know! My wife and I are currently in escrow on a home here in south east Idaho it is our first, and we are a little nervous. The home was built in 1951, it has new windows and new insulation, amazingly the original hard wood floors under the 70's shag carpet is perfect! A little polish and they will look brand new!! It also has an oil furnace from the 60's that is circulated by what appears to be a newer forced air system, at least the ducting looks new.. Admittedly, this being my first house and growing up in California never having to experience cold winters I did not know what "oil furnace" really meant.
As part of closing the sellers agreed to have the furnace inspected and any repairs/maintenance done before closing.
I thought this was good until I got a quote for filling the tank....Lets just say once my breath came back I quietly thanked the sales person on the phone for his time and told him I needed to discuss things with my wife.
So needless to say I am looking for alternate heating sources for my home that will be more efficient. The house does have a traditional fireplace, open brick with a decorative metal panel on the front with glass doors, it is located in the basement. There is no fire place upstairs. The plan is to replace the furnace with natural gas in the next year or two, depending on cost.
As I see it I can put an insert in the basement, that will only heat the basement though as I have read that wood heat sources in the basement are not efficient for the whole house. Or I can put a wood stove up stairs try and tie it in with my existing chimney and take advantage of the forced air system and use that to circulate the warm air? Or I can bite the bullet, drop a 100 gallons of fuel into the tank set the thermostat at 60 and get some space heaters....I am a but unsure what to do at this point. All my options seem expensive.
A little more info about the house. Upstairs is about 1200 square feet, the basement is about 1000 square feet. The basement is about 40% finished, it has a large finished family room, and we have plans to turn the rest of the space into storage, a bathroom and an office. The ducting is running through the whole basement. All the bedrooms are upstairs, the large front room upstairs is going to be a formal sitting area and dining room, with the family room down stairs being where we anticipate to play!
Thanks for any suggestions guys!!
As part of closing the sellers agreed to have the furnace inspected and any repairs/maintenance done before closing.
I thought this was good until I got a quote for filling the tank....Lets just say once my breath came back I quietly thanked the sales person on the phone for his time and told him I needed to discuss things with my wife.
So needless to say I am looking for alternate heating sources for my home that will be more efficient. The house does have a traditional fireplace, open brick with a decorative metal panel on the front with glass doors, it is located in the basement. There is no fire place upstairs. The plan is to replace the furnace with natural gas in the next year or two, depending on cost.
As I see it I can put an insert in the basement, that will only heat the basement though as I have read that wood heat sources in the basement are not efficient for the whole house. Or I can put a wood stove up stairs try and tie it in with my existing chimney and take advantage of the forced air system and use that to circulate the warm air? Or I can bite the bullet, drop a 100 gallons of fuel into the tank set the thermostat at 60 and get some space heaters....I am a but unsure what to do at this point. All my options seem expensive.
A little more info about the house. Upstairs is about 1200 square feet, the basement is about 1000 square feet. The basement is about 40% finished, it has a large finished family room, and we have plans to turn the rest of the space into storage, a bathroom and an office. The ducting is running through the whole basement. All the bedrooms are upstairs, the large front room upstairs is going to be a formal sitting area and dining room, with the family room down stairs being where we anticipate to play!
Thanks for any suggestions guys!!
