We’re thinking about buying a house that has one of those ancient octopus-style furnaces (and I mean ancient…the realtor says it’s the home’s original furnace; and the house was built in 1912!!). Does anybody know of the reliability of these furnaces? Would we be fools to buy a house with an 80 year-old furnace?
That’s a complicated question. What does it burn? Oil? Gas? Coal?
You will absolutely need a home inspector qualified in that type of furnace to tell you about it’s condition, and reliability.
Depending on the condition of the rest of the house, who knows? If you save $6000, well, you can get a pretty decent furnace retrofitted for less than that - provided you have gas or sufficient electricity available.