Converting oil furnace to propane?

[Peruvian]

Oil is now up to $3.70/gal and propane is down to about $2/gal. It's got me seriously considering converting. I already have a large propane tank buried in the front yard that only services a 4 burner stove top.

My thought is to see if my Peerless WB-04 oil furnace can be converted. Has anyone done this any have any words of wisdom on whether it makes any sense?

Thanks!

[Timberridge]

I had mine done (VT) about 8 yrs ago--the oil tank needed to be removed anyway and we put in a 1,000 gallon propane tank to replace it. Bear in mind, max fill on 1000 gal tank is ~800 gallons of propane.

I don't know whats involved on each brand of furnace but on mine they changed the burners and a few other things and I think it cost around $200-300. Furnace works fine now, but I do believe you may loose a bit of efficiency and drop a few % on propane unless it was designed for dual fuel from the start.

Propane has a BTU/gallon value less than oil so you will burn more and that may completely offset any savings on the price. You can use this link to see the breakeven: https://www.irvingenergy.com/btu-per-dollar-calculator/ But now other than change the filters, I don't have to worry about cleaning the furnace periodically and having a potentially leaking u/g oil tank on my property.

One word of advice that may or may not apply since you already have a tank: if you can afford the upfront charge, own your own propane tank, and use a propane company that allows you to schedule your own deliveries. What these guys do is want to lease you the tank and then they lock you into a LT contract which they embed the cost of the tank etc. and you never know what you are paying for propane. They also will bunch deliveries around Jan Feb Mar when propane is at its highest cost. So, what I do is schedule deliveries in late summer--usually the cheapest--then one top up in Dec, and avoid at all costs filling in JFM. I've seen the price go from $2.50/g in August to $3.50+ in Feb Mar. There's nothing worse than coming off a winter with a full tank.

Edit: I should also add my furnace is forced air.