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We're in a new place that has a gas furnace that hasn't been started up in about 3 years. Back then it worked fine, but it's got some issues now.
We have a repair guy come over to look at it and he said, "Oh wow, this is an old unit and it's only about 80% efficiency. Instead of putting money into fixing this old one, we can put in a new unit that is about 95% efficient!"
So, I thought I'd do some math and present it here. Please review and let me know what you think:
Facts:
We don't use our furnace very much. We're in a pretty temperate climate and I'd guess we'd only use it sparingly every day for about 2-3 months.
I'd say the average gas bill for someone around here that uses gas to heat their home is $50 - $100 a month during the winter (mostly guessing).
It would probably cost $250 - $500 to fix our current old furnace
It would probably cost about $4,000 to get a new unit and have it installed
So, here's my quick calculation:
I'm going to error on the side of being aggressive with the costs and savings to best case scenario for a new furnace.
Let's say our bill is $100 a month for 4 months.
Let's also assume a new furnace lets us go from 80% efficiency to 100% (impossible, but I like round numbers for quick / easy math)
So, a 20% increase in efficiency should equate to 20% reduction in monthly costs. $20 savings per month for 4 months a year is $80 per year saved.
A new furnace is $4,000, which means my break even on just gas consumption price is about 50 years!![Thud :th :th](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/th.gif)
Of course, we'd need to factor in the costs of maintaining an old furnace and the fact that the old furnace will eventually need to be replaced (as would a new one eventually), but the numbers are so grossly leaning toward fixing the current one that I just don't see any reason to even think about getting a new furnace.
What do you think?
We have a repair guy come over to look at it and he said, "Oh wow, this is an old unit and it's only about 80% efficiency. Instead of putting money into fixing this old one, we can put in a new unit that is about 95% efficient!"
So, I thought I'd do some math and present it here. Please review and let me know what you think:
Facts:
We don't use our furnace very much. We're in a pretty temperate climate and I'd guess we'd only use it sparingly every day for about 2-3 months.
I'd say the average gas bill for someone around here that uses gas to heat their home is $50 - $100 a month during the winter (mostly guessing).
It would probably cost $250 - $500 to fix our current old furnace
It would probably cost about $4,000 to get a new unit and have it installed
So, here's my quick calculation:
I'm going to error on the side of being aggressive with the costs and savings to best case scenario for a new furnace.
Let's say our bill is $100 a month for 4 months.
Let's also assume a new furnace lets us go from 80% efficiency to 100% (impossible, but I like round numbers for quick / easy math)
So, a 20% increase in efficiency should equate to 20% reduction in monthly costs. $20 savings per month for 4 months a year is $80 per year saved.
A new furnace is $4,000, which means my break even on just gas consumption price is about 50 years!
![Thud :th :th](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/th.gif)
Of course, we'd need to factor in the costs of maintaining an old furnace and the fact that the old furnace will eventually need to be replaced (as would a new one eventually), but the numbers are so grossly leaning toward fixing the current one that I just don't see any reason to even think about getting a new furnace.
What do you think?