I’ve purchased a gas + electric home to sell on a Lonnie Deal. I’ve had a few prospective residents request all-electric homes (but not most). This home needs a new range anyway, so I’m thinking of installing an electric range (and I think I’d need to change-over the furnace too). The incremental cost to convert to all-electric (since the home needs a fair amount of repair anyway), might only be $300.
Should I do this? Is electric cheaper than gas? How would I sell this to residents rather than an gas + electric home? Or should I just not bother with it?
Thank you!
-jl-
Don’t bother, you will likely have to upgrade tha pedistal also. Most new all electric homes require a 200amp service. Gas is cheaper to operate but cost a little more on the inital purchase.
Jefferson,
I recently did just such a conversion. My first question, though, is where are you buying furnaces such that your cost to replace is only $300?!!
In my case I was working on an older DW. It originally had all gas appliances but the water heater & range had all be converted to electric at some point in it’s past. The only thing left to convert was the furnace which was bad and needed replaced anyway. I have found that all-electric IS a selling point in my market so, since I had to replace the furnace anyway, I converted it to electric also.
My first recommendation is to have a qualified electrician look at the whole project to see what is going to need to be changed. In my case I had to upgrade the wire between the panel & the furnace (copper wire is NOT cheap) and I had to rearrange the breakers in the panel in order to make room for the two larger breakers for the furnace. Be sure to price these breakers. In my case they were a very obscure brand, hard to find, and cost $60 each - JUST FOR BREAKERS! The furnace itself cost about $800 dealer cost at the MH Supply store.
We also had to cover up and seal the roof vent since it was no longer needed.
If I had it to do over again, I would not make the conversion on this project. But I learned a lot (the hard way) and now, for what it’s worth, I
can pass it along to you. 
Hope that Helps,
Michael(KCMO)
Arco Distributing 636-947-4111 x-122 they run a weekly route to your area
As stated $300 is very low for a conversion… We’ve price it out for some of our rentals and I plan on doing the work my self here’s what I’m planning on cost wise.
Electric Furnace $420-472 (12k unit)
Hotwater Heater $225
Upgrade 40amp wire to 60 amp (4gauge@$2 linear ft.) $40-75
conduit for wire $20-40
60 amp breaker box (needed if less than 200 amp service panel) $60
Misc (dryer plugs, stove plugs, extra wire, etc) $50
Permits $125
That brings the total to $940- 1050 for an all gas type unit, for oil conversion and the units that just have a gas furnace about the cheapest I can see is $550ish. The only reason I’m considering the conversions on RENTALS is to limit the total move in cost to the tenant thus making us more competitive, oil heat in particular is becoming a big draw back to rentals in my area and it’s very hard to rent an oil unit in the fall and winter leading to long vacancies during this time. For rentals it makes sense due to 3-4 month vacancies ($900-$1500 in lost rent) on oil units, for LD’s it doesn’t make sense from an income stance IMHO as there is little added value to the sales price or salability of the unit.
Best wishes,
Ryan Needler
(as a side note, if you have to replace the feed lines from the transformer to the meter box or the breaker main panel, the cost is most likely going to increase greatly unless your power provider will change the wiring for you)
