During our Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens home inspections, we often hear from our clients that they prefer gas over oil and anticipate that they will be making a conversion in the future. Here are some factors to consider.
- Oil is not explosive, gas is. Gas explosions are extremely rare, but it does happen once in a great while
- Gas can be used to power whole house generators during a storm without having to worry about running out of fuel
- In addition to your heating system, you can also connect kitchen stoves and oven’s, generators, fireplaces, barbecues, clothing dryers, and water heaters
- Gas heating systems are typically more energy efficient than oil heat
- Oil tanks can leak with environmental hazards
- Gas boilers are quieter
- Most people prefer cooking with gas rather than electricity
- Gas is pretty much an uninterruptable fuel supply, you don’t have to worry about an oil delivery
So, if you decide that you would like to convert, or at least find out how much a conversion would cost, here are the steps.
- The first thing to do find out if there is gas on the street. Call national grid to find out. If there is no gas on the street, it may be prohibitively expensive to run a main gas pipe along the street without having a lot of people in the immediate neighborhood agree to a conversion.
- If there is gas on the street, national grid will run 100 feet of gas pipe from the street to your house for free.
- Contact a licensed plumber, qualified to discuss the pros and cons of different types of heating equipment and costs. When you’re ready, your plumber will remove the existing equipment and install new equipment. National grid will then install a meter and connect the gas line.
- National grid will provide some incentives if you go with high-efficiency equipment.
- If your existing oil tank is in the home, it will need to be removed. If the oil tank is in the ground, it can be abandoned by an oil tank specialty company (keep the paperwork). Abandonment is easier and cheaper than removal.
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