Old Furnace: Repair or Replace?

Keloboe asks,

We own a house with an old oil furnace that works . The house was built in the 1960’s by a contractor and has industrial blowers that are obsolete. They continuously break and parts are impossible to find. We had the AC unit replaced in 2010 and a contractor said he could replace the oil furnace with a heat pump and use the existing duct work for about $3500. Would we be better served to replace the furnace or the blowers? Is there even anything comparable to them?

Our Answer

That’s really bad advice. We would never recommend replacing an oil fired furnace with a heat pump. You will not be happy. Heat pumps blow air that is much cooler than what you are used to. Oil powered furnace air comes out at 140 degrees. With a heat pump, that temperature drops to about 110 degrees. A heat pump will heat your house, but not without complaints of comfort! Since your house is older, the old duct system won’t be very efficient either, which will amplify the problems of a heat pump. We suggest replacing the old oil fired furnace with new oil fired furnace, which will be much more efficient. Skip the heat pump.