Q: We are looking to buy an older house that has a very unusual furnace. The home inspector calls it a gravity furnace, but I think it looks more like an octopus with these large pipes that protrude ...

Q DEAR TIM: We are considering buying an older house that has an unusual furnace. The home inspector calls it a gravity furnace. I think it looks like an octopus, with these large pipes that protrude ...

While money and efficiency go hand-in-hand, I'm listing them separately because replacing your old gravity furnace is also good for the environment; the more efficient your furnace is, the less ...

Q. After living in this 80 year old house for 15 years and suffering through 15 hot and steamy summers, we've decided that this is the year we're going to get air conditioning. Our problem is the ...

Two weeks ago, I began a reply to J. McC’s questions about replacing his 1920s gravity warm air furnace (the “octopus”) with a new forced air furnace. He was also concerned about how to find a ...

Talk about misplaced priorities: In the name of saving energy, many people think nothing of spending tens of thousands of dollars on replacement windows. But at the same time, they'll willingly limp ...

Q: I live in a 57-year-old home, heated by the original "gravity" furnace installed when the home was built. During the winter months, water condensation appears on some of the windows, usually ...

It was just a few decades ago that the start of school in the fall also signaled that it was time to get that fuel oil tank topped off or the coal bin filled. With cooler weather soon to be upon us, ...

Pat Tiffany used to be afraid to go into the basement of her home in Silt for fear of the “fire-breathing dragon” — a furnace circa 1920 that originally burned coal. Although it had been converted to ...