At what price (fuel) do you bail out of an oil furnace in favour of an electric

[kenora]

Heating oil is currently 1.28 liter and is forecast to go UP to $1.50 liter by November. Thats about $5.50 a gallon.

My house is about 950 sq/ft and heated with a oil forced air furnace, at the last service the tech said its about 80% efficient.

The house is 2X6 construction, triple pane windows etc in Kenora Ontario Canada. Winters are long and COLD (-30 to -40 for 60 days every winter at least).

So...

With electricity my only alternative (no NG) and a wood fired yard furnace impractical (we are away too often to feed it) I need to decide WHEN and IF to switch to electric.

The first 500kw is 5.0 cents/kWh
everything beyond that is 5.8 cents/kWh
there are a variety of additional charges on each bill as well
there is enough capacity on the 200 amp panel for the furnace now

I have an opportunity to get a used electric furnace for $300, includes thermostat, motor etc.

Should I buy the furnace and install it now?
or...Should I buy it and hold onto it for an install at some other price point? It seems that oil will get so expensive soon I will have to move to electric at some point.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I can't for the life of me figure out if it makes sense to move to electric at this point.

[BaldLoonie]

Your price per oil is horrible! Breaking rates down to 100,000 BTU of heat put into the house:

oil $4.68

heat pump (average over various outdoor temps) 68 cents

electric baseboard or forced air $1.53

still want oil????

[Hvacman4God]

Thats going to depend on your budget. If you can afford the extremely high prices of oil then have it, but if you cant then get something cheaper that would work in your application.

Note: not no used equipment 9 times out of 10 their aint no warranty and the quality just aint.

[Poodle Head Mikey]

And I can tell you - 60 days of -30 to -60 degree weather would have me availing myself of it in a very quick hurry. <g>

But do this - since you obviously love it there.

Get out your electric bill from last February. Divide the dollars paid out by the kilowatts used. That is what it actually costs per kilowatt. Use your actual numbers and work it out exactly for yourself using the following formulas. But even as-written it will still give you a good idea of where you stand.

80% efficiency oil (which is mostly a fairy tale anyway)
1,000,000 BTU out / 80% = 1,200,000 input / 139,000 BTU per gal oil = 8.633 gal X $5.00 = $43.17

100% efficiency straight electric heat
1,000,000 BTU out / 3,412 BTU per KWH = 293.08 KWH X $0.10 = $29.38

Heat pump with Coefficient of Performance of 3.5 (47 degrees)
$29.38 cost of resistance heat / 3.5 = $8.39

Heat pump with Coefficient of Performance of 2.4 (17 degrees)
$29.38 cost of resistance heat / 2.4 = $12.24

AND!!!!!!!!!! Best of all is: You Do Not Need Air Conditioning!!!!

So: you can chose the heat pump size based Purely on your heating requirements! Which is a gigantic design plus.

BTW: I personally would not use an electric furnace UNLESS I was going with a heat pump (which I am incidentally <g>) - for straight electric I would use baseboard electric with a thermostat in each room.

PHM
---------------

Heating oil is currently 1.28 liter and is forecast to go UP to $1.50 liter by November. Thats about $5.50 a gallon.

My house is about 950 sq/ft and heated with a oil forced air furnace, at the last service the tech said its about 80% efficient.

The house is 2X6 construction, triple pane windows etc in Kenora Ontario Canada. Winters are long and COLD (-30 to -40 for 60 days every winter at least).

So...

With electricity my only alternative (no NG) and a wood fired yard furnace impractical (we are away too often to feed it) I need to decide WHEN and IF to switch to electric.

The first 500kw is 5.0 cents/kWh
everything beyond that is 5.8 cents/kWh
there are a variety of additional charges on each bill as well
there is enough capacity on the 200 amp panel for the furnace now

I have an opportunity to get a used electric furnace for $300, includes thermostat, motor etc.

Should I buy the furnace and install it now?
or...Should I buy it and hold onto it for an install at some other price point? It seems that oil will get so expensive soon I will have to move to electric at some point.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I can't for the life of me figure out if it makes sense to move to electric at this point.

[beenthere]

I woudn't get a USED electric furnace. If you not home enough to feed a wood stove.