Need to replace heating system

Before this next winter the wife and I need to get our heating system replaced. We currently have a forced hot air oil burning furnace and an oil burn inner water heater. They are both over 20 years old and we don't have the option of using natural gas so its either oil or electricity. Any suggestions are welcome, this is our first home and the first time either of us has had to make a major upgrade like this.

 

When we bought our place 4 years ago we changed from oil furnace & electric water heater to heat pump & tankless propane water heater. Total cost was ~ 10k and I figure since you're at the same latitude it'd work for you too. Heating costs are way lower than oil and since I was piping gas for stove, bbq & dryer I figured I'd go with a tankless. Nat gas too far away otherwise I would have gone with that instead.

 

We had the same as you, oil furnace forced air and oil fueled water heater. We went to a hybrid heating system which is a heat pump with oil furnace backup. The heat pump heats the house until there is a 30 degree difference between outside and inside air then the oil kicks in.
The water heater was replaced with a 50 gal electric. I would not go tankless without gas, the electric tankless are not very good IMO.

 

Getting rid of the oil...is probably a benefit in itself regardless of what you go with.

Do you want/need air conditioning? Do you have air conditioning now?

You live in Massachusetts.... so you have to consider the cold weather.

We have a heat pump and a propane furnace. The Heat Pump can't keep the house warm enough in the winter and it needs a supplemental heat source. The propane furnace is for our supplemental heat source and as long as the temperature outside is below 40 degrees...the propane furnace runs 100% of the heat. The heat pump runs 100% when the temp is above 40. The good thing with a Heat Pump, is having Air conditioning.
And hence why...we have both. Gotta have A/C for our PA summers.

We don't have Gas locally and Propane is the next option. We have two 100 gallons propane tanks that belong to the gas company, whom they come out twice a year to fill the tanks. You can buy a 500lb propane tank but in PA you need to bury it underground (regulations for safety).

With propane (and tanks), you can opt for all sorts of other propane appliances if you want to route your house (propane lines) that way. We never did....we kept electric appliances & electric water heater.

 

Thanks for the replies, sounds like a heat pump or hybrid type system is what I'm looking for. I forgot to put in my OP that we have a wood stove that I use when I'm home, basically we set the temp to 60 during the winter and when I come home from work fire up the wood stove. On the weekends it's wood stove all the time.

Our house is small, just 1200 sq ft ranch with a finished room in the basement, and its pretty air tight and well insulated. Do the heat pump systems need any mods to the electrical system?

 

Depends on what you already have..... or don't have.

We already had a thermostat/control panel upstairs in the living room. It was just a matter of wiring up a new 'programmable' one and of course, wiring it up to the new system.

With a heat pump, which is located outside.... they will need to cut some holes in the side of your house to route all the necessary pipes/wiring. It'll be a bigger & more complex job since you are converting to a different type of heat - but I think you'll be happier once its done.

Using your wood stove will be great.....however....you might experience colder spots/rooms if you're not circulating that warm air to the rest of the house. For us..... One winter - it was 6 degrees outside and we lost our supplemental heat. The heat pump was only able to keep the house at 55 degrees. Just a thought.... Oh, and talk to your neighbors. Ask your neighbors and/or other folks in your area what types of heat they use or if other folks have switched to something other than Oil. You'll soon learn what type of heating system stands out when you talk to other folks in your area.
Good Luck!