In May 2013 the new rules go into affect which states all new furnaces installed in NJ must have an efficiency rating of at least 90%. These types of furnaces must be vented with PVC piping through the side of the house instead of the chimney. The cost will be more than installing an 80% efficiency furnace.

A 20 year old furnace is reaching the end of its lifetime. You may get several more years. If you plan to be live in the condo then you should plan for a future replacement. Don't wait until it breaks down.

Mike's post x2.

higher cost in May of more efficient equipment
compared to cost of same equipment now..should
be the same.
but...if you compare soon to be minimal 80%
furnace to better efficiency 90+% ...there
is the cost difference.

it is with good reason the 80% will be
upgraded to higher efficiency units.
the hvac industry doesn't often make these
changes based soley upon higher efficiencies.

to break it down..your guy wants to sell you
the 80% now, as opposed to 90+%. to me that
would mean that his/her experience with the
higher efficiency units isn't up to par.

that is my take on it.

best of luck.

Thanks for your responses. The reason the contractor asked me to go with 80% now was based on the amount of work required for the 90% furnace to be installed inside the condo. The present furnace exhaust goes into chimney and the furnace is inside a closet. He was saying for high efficiency furnace we may have to either expose the pipes or have to dig into the walls to connect it to outside. As I have neighbor above me we may not be able to install pipes in the roof. I am leaning towards high efficiency because it may be more environment friendly. Don't know if the condo association came to a decision on how to run pipes come May. I appreciate the replies and the time you spent on answering.

Thanks,
Anand.

To the OP.

I am not a contractor - just a home owner.

I replaced my oil furnace two years ago - it was 37 year old and still going strong.

The ONLY reason I replaced it was my (about) 18 year old A/C was dieing and I replaced it with a Heat Pump and oil furnace.

I'm not sure why your contractor want to replace a furnace after only 20 years. A heat pump, yes, a furnace no.

saltidawg,
let me start by saying,
I've never even seen an oil furnace.
so I know nothing about them.
what is the useful life of an oil furnace?

I know with gas furnaces & heat pumps
that the useful lives are 17 for gas
12-15 for heat pumps.

what type of oil do oil furnaces use?
what size storage tank will last how long?
just in usual weather, not extra hard winter?

always have been curious about oil furnaces.
so thanks for any insight you provide.

I am a Retired Navy Submariner that has lived all over the country in homes using electric only, oil, and gas heat.

Oil heating systems typically have a 270 gallon tank to store the home heating oil, which is essentially diesel fuel with a dye added to allow it to be easily detected if one were to try to sell it for a vehicle and avoid paying all of the taxes.

When I lived near Seattle, electricity at that time was VERY cheap between nuclear and hydroelectric sources. We had a brand new home with no A/C and an electric furnace re-purposed from mobile home design.

In some of the more built up areas, such as San Diego, we had a Natural Gas Furnace and A/C that we used maybe 3-4 times a year to cool and used the furnace only a few hours a day for maybe 3-4 weeks.

In some of the more rural areas we typically had oil as the underground infrastructure for distributing gas just was not economical. (Never had propane.)

Back "in the day" oil was cheaper than gas but that certainly is not the case these days. I paid under 10 Cents a gallon for oil in my first home.

For the past 23 years I have lived in an affluent MD suburb of our Nations Capitol. My home was built in 1973 and at the time there was a moratorium on new natural gas residential hookups in this area.

As a result, the homes built to my north all had natural gas and A/C. My house, and those to my south, all had oil and A/C.

In the last five years people with gas furnaces are starting to replace their nearly forty year old furnaces and the same goes for oil furnaces. I have to believe that ALL A/C units have been replaced AT LEAST once and likely two or more times.

Two years ago, with lots of help from people here, I replaced my 18 year old A/C and my 37 year old furnace - both of which were functioning just fine. I had yearly furnace servicing done and had the A/C serviced every 2 years.

I went the way of getting a Heat Pump and oil furnace (80%) efficiency from Carrier. The last oil delivery I had was in March of 2011, and I still have about 5/8th of a tank left at this time. Gas is still not an option.

I also replaced my electric hot water heater with a Heat Pump Hot water heater. That alone is saving me about $50 per month EVERY month.

At 30 degrees and below I heat with oil. Above 30 degrees I heat with electricity.

I am using much less electricity then before the upgrades and I am also using much less oil.

I would observe that based on my neighbors' experience with gas furnaces and my other neighbors' experience with oil furnaces that these residential furnaces are all lasting for something around forty years SO FAR.

Oil is costing me $3.38 gallon for the first filling this year and $3.78 for any subsequent fillings thru May. I predict that I will not actually need any oil as my remaining 5/8ths tank will last.

Electricity runs something north of 11 Cents per Kwh.

Oil tank location varies according to area and local practice. Mine is in my basement in a corner - we don't even think about it. It is odorless and is filled and vented to outside connections when taking on heating oil. I have an oil delivery service that keeps track of my usage and keeps track of degree days and other data and automatically fills my storage tank when they think it is needed.

They've been scratching their head since I got the Heat pump.

I might add, that my new oil furnace is essentially the same efficiency as the 37 year old that it replaced - my savings are due to the Hot Water Heat Pump and the heat pump and the significantly more efficient cooling by the heat pump.

Most of my neighbors still believe Heat Pumps are not an option here in Maryland. They're 20+ years out of date, and are simply wrong...

I also spent $1000 bucks to insulate the attic and have recently applied for Sainthood. :-)

have recently applied for Sainthood. :-)

LOL! will reply tomorrow but for tonight..
just LOL!

"My home was built in 1973 and at the time there was a moratorium on new natural gas residential hookups in this area."

I am amazed by this statement.