Considering fireplace insert, now oil furnace is dying

[Pelly]

I have been researching pellet fireplace inserts to add to our living room. Just when I thought I was ready to pull the trigger on a Harman insert, my 60 year oil furnace gives out and needs replaced. (It has shut down 4 times in the past 2 weeks. I thought it finally was ready to bite the dust and in a moment of mini frustration I gave the burner a little kick and it fired up and has been running ok since , but that is a temporary fix.)

I have 2 floors totalling approximately 1800 sq ft.+ basement with electric baseboard. I was thinking the pellet stove would be a supplemental heat source that would allow me to cut back on oil. Now that the oil furnace needs replaced, I am not sure what to do. I am still going to need a furnace of some kind I presume, correct? (No access to natural gas)

I want to be realistic. I don't know that I can afford both a furnace and insert at the same time. Being that I am on the pellet stove forum I am expecting to be sold the merits of a pellet stove which I am on board with, just not sure that it should be my first step. Any expertise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[kofkorn]

Pellet stoves are wonderful and certainly would likely save you money in the long run. However, they are not usually recommended as a sole heating source. A couple of items that prevent that:

- They are limited in the amount of fuel they can contain. Once the hopper runs empty, they shut down. If you go away for a couple of days, it is unlikely that the stove will still be running.

- Pellet stoves are generally considered a space heating device. There are many people on here that use them to heat an entire house (myself included), but many people have a difficult time heating remote rooms with the pellet stove.

In your case, it looks like you are probably going to need to replace the furnace, unless you want to keep your electric heat as your backup source. Can your electric heat the whole house in an emergency situation??

The good news is that the efficiency of furnaces has risen significantly in 60 yrs, and you likely will need a much smaller / less expensive unit than you've had in the past.

The only other way to go would be for a pellet boiler, which is considerably more expensive up front, but would prevent you from using oil in the future. A pellet boiler could be relied upon as a primary heat source.

Good luck!

 

[Rubicon 327]

60 years old doesn't necessarily mean it's shot.....just may need a little tune up (filter/nozzle change) especially if you are sucking oil off the bottom of the tank.....say if you have an 1/8th of a tank of oil or so left.

Not recommending oil but better that electricity as a back up to a pellet insert if you end up getting one.

And a tune up or minor part replacement on your furnace may leave you the money you need for the insert. Can't see buying a new furnace if you really don't need one.....especially if it's going to play second fiddle to a pellet insert and only be used occasionally.

 

[chken]

I have been researching pellet fireplace inserts to add to our living room. Just when I thought I was ready to pull the trigger on a Harman insert, my 60 year oil furnace gives out and needs replaced. (It has shut down 4 times in the past 2 weeks. I thought it finally was ready to bite the dust and in a moment of mini frustration I gave the burner a little kick and it fired up and has been running ok since , but that is a temporary fix.)

I have 2 floors totalling approximately 1800 sq ft.+ basement with electric baseboard. I was thinking the pellet stove would be a supplemental heat source that would allow me to cut back on oil. Now that the oil furnace needs replaced, I am not sure what to do. I am still going to need a furnace of some kind I presume, correct? (No access to natural gas)

I want to be realistic. I don't know that I can afford both a furnace and insert at the same time. Being that I am on the pellet stove forum I am expecting to be sold the merits of a pellet stove which I am on board with, just not sure that it should be my first step. Any expertise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Not sure your home insurance would approve of a pellet insert as primary source of heat. A lot depends upon your existing oil furnace and what needs to be replaced, is it only the oil injector? You may be able to use part of your existing furnace with a Pellergy injector, essentially replacing the oil injector with a pellet one. Try Pellergy.com. Of course, if you need to replace the whole furnace, they have those too; and of course, there are plenty of Harman pellet furnace owners in this forum to help.

 

[alternativeheat]

I have been researching pellet fireplace inserts to add to our living room. Just when I thought I was ready to pull the trigger on a Harman insert, my 60 year oil furnace gives out and needs replaced. (It has shut down 4 times in the past 2 weeks. I thought it finally was ready to bite the dust and in a moment of mini frustration I gave the burner a little kick and it fired up and has been running ok since , but that is a temporary fix.)
Oil burners require annual service, did you know that ?
I have 2 floors totalling approximately 1800 sq ft.+ basement with electric baseboard. I was thinking the pellet stove would be a supplemental heat source that would allow me to cut back on oil. Now that the oil furnace needs replaced, I am not sure what to do. I am still going to need a furnace of some kind I presume, correct? (No access to natural gas)

I want to be realistic. I don't know that I can afford both a furnace and insert at the same time. Being that I am on the pellet stove forum I am expecting to be sold the merits of a pellet stove which I am on board with, just not sure that it should be my first step. Any expertise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

If your burner is conking out it doesn't mean that the whole furnace needs to go. When was it serviced last ? Many things cause an oil burner to stop, from pin holes in the stack, faulty stack switch, improper electrode gap, plugged nozzle, plugged filters. As mentioned by another forum member, perhaps get it serviced. It may just cost a hundred or two and you're good to go on with your pellet insert idea ( more likely than an entire replacement from the symptoms you describe).. Are you aware that oil burners should be serviced annually and at the longest every two years ?

 

[Mt Bob]

If your burner is conking out it doesn't mean that the whole furnace needs to go. When was it serviced last ? Many things cause an oil burner to stop, from pin holes in the stack, faulty stack switch, improper electrode gap, plugged nozzle, plugged filters. As mentioned by another forum member, perhaps get it serviced. It may just cost a hundred or two and you're good to go on with your pellet insert idea ( more likely than an entire replacement from the symptoms you describe).. Are you aware that oil burners should be serviced annually and at the longest every two years ?

I'm with you,replace furnace in winter?No way,patch up for now.Happened to my dad(back in MD)last winter,had it patched,had it replaced over the summer.Also consider adding ele,water heater if your old domestic hot ran through furnace.

 

[DBCOOPER]

Furnace or boiler?

 

[Mt Bob]

Furnace or boiler?

Good question,I just assumed hydronic.

 

[Ctcarl]

You will still need your furnace.my home is similar to yours. I just got a harman p35i and so far extremely impressed with it. Does the job and them some witch makes me feel good because I was debating on the accentra. For me and my home I made the correct choice. Good luck

 

[Pelly]

Thanks to everyone for their input. It confirmed what I thought, which was I will definitely still need the furnace. Now I need to decide if it should be patched up to get a little more time out of it for the time being as many of you suggested.

As expected, the HVAC "rep" was a very good salesman when he was out saying that we definitely needed a new furnace and that we got 2 or 3 more decades out of it then we should have and that a new one would be a big improvement so I was thinking do I really want to sink a couple hundred dollars into it only to have to replace it in the near future. Anyhow, thanks again for the input. I really appreciate it.

 

[dlavigne7324]

You will still need your furnace.my home is similar to yours. I just got a harman p35i and so far extremely impressed with it. Does the job and them some witch makes me feel good because I was debating on the accentra. For me and my home I made the correct choice. Good luck

Same here decided on the p35i and not disappointed on bite Heating 1800 sq ft

 

[johnny1720]

Where ru located I have one nearly new oil furnace and one 20 year old furnace in my basement.

I am in western New York

They could be had cheaply