Gas vs. Oil heat

For those that are looking for homes right now is a home with gas heat really important to you? Are you willing to spend more $$ for a house because it has one?

DH wanted to switch from oil to gas this year but I convinced him to wait just because I dont mind it as much and I dont know if it's worth the expense. I would consider it more if it adds better resale value to the house if and when we sell it.

Thoughts?
TIA!!

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

I have heard good points for both so in the end I was just as confused as when I started..if not more so. But in the end my preference was gas heat and we did buy a house that was gas. We felt that it's a cleaner fuel, love that we don't have to worry about ordering fuel, love cooking on a gas stove (but you can still have that either way) and don't have the tank taking up space. But those are just my preferences.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

gas heat is pretty important to us. I never had it before I moved into my apt now and I can't imagine going back to oil. IMO, it is MUCH more efficient and it burns cleaner. and if you have CAC, it's all out of the same unit, so much easier to maintain. 90% of the country is on natural gas for heat. I'm really not sure why this part of the country is so behind the times.

another perk - no negotiating price per gallon every year. no puff backs either.

spend $20 for a carbon monoxide detector and you’ll never have to think about the heat again.

Message edited 10/27/2006 9:28:01 AM.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

I have oil right now -

but we are looking in a neighborhood that has all gas.

i dont think id pay more for gas vs. oil - they both have pro's and con's

eta: i didnt know about the CAC thing - good to know!!

Message edited 10/27/2006 9:30:23 AM.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

I have oil and it's really not as bad as some make it out to be. A couple of good points about oil is that it is in it's purest form. It is not combustible. Natural gas is combustable (meaning spontaneously. If we ever have to go outside of the US for natural gas, then it would have to be brought down to a liquid and then brought back up to a gas and that would make it 10x more expensive than it was before. Also there are currently no arrangements with any other country to buy natural gas with the US.

I've lived in houses with both. I like the fact I don't have to worry about filling an oil tank, but it's really not a pain at all. I have propane tanks for my stove and that costs pennies compared to the price of natural gas. I fill the propane tanks once every two years.

So I have a fabulous efficient steam heating system, my boiler extremely efficient at 16 years old. My oil company is excellent and I've never had any issues with oil. I also grew up with oil..I think there are good points for both.

I've compared my costs with my friends who have gas and found they were paying more (albeit a little).

As far as the clean aspect, I find no issues with it.

I don't have CAC and I probably wouldn't put it in this house. I will say that having one unit for CAC and heat would probably make the electric bills somewhat higher.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

I have oil heat and my daughter has gas heat. Both of us like what we have. However, gas heat is cleaner. The price is comparable at this time. The only thing that would give me pause at this time if I were considering switching is that Keyspan has been acquired by a British company. While they are saying that prices will not rise at this time, I have an uneasy feeling that in the not-too-distant future they will increase and, possibly, pass the cost of oil. I've seen this happen before.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

I prefer gas heat, though this isn't a deal-breaker on an otherwise great home for me, as long as we can convert to gas. There is one section of a town we are looking in where there are no gas lines, so we aren't looking there anymore.

I'd prefer to just find a place with gas though.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

there is definitely something to be said about new homes on LI (and everywhere in the US) being built with gas heat...unless it's in an area with no gas lines. oil heating is antiquated.

makes you wonder... the 5 boroughs use gas for heating, why didn't they bring it out to all of LI??

probably for the same reason most of Suffolk has cesspools - cheap azz builders

Message edited 10/27/2006 4:55:15 PM.

Re: Gas vs. Oil heat

Thanks everyone for the input! Looks like gas heat wouldn't add value to the house.

Our area has gas, Keyspan was able to run gas lines from the street to our home for free. When we bought it the owner was using an electric stove and I wanted to switch to gas along with the dryer and hot water heater.

I do know someone who is buying about a mile from us and they said there are no gas lines around them at all, Keyspan said it would cost about $3k just to run the lines to their home!

Message edited 10/27/2006 5:19:07 PM.