The house I live in, my dad built in '59-'60. There were no natural gas lines in around us back then, so he had a fuel oil/boiler system installed. (natural gas came by us in about '64 or '65) Every fall needed a good scrubbing out in the water jackets just above the flames. Seems I remember once in a while,not to often, water in the fuel, so had to pour in dry gas when that happened. When the flame would get a funny color, furnace repair man would put a new jet in. The transformer went out once, and always had clean filters for the in-line water seperator. I know I'm making it sound bad, but you have to remember this was over a 28 years period.(Had a natural gas furnace installed in '88 or '89, couple years before my mother died) Natural gas, is around here anyway, much cheaper than NO.2 fuel oil, for heating. The house your looking at, has a much newer furnace, so I'm suspecting that it is much more efficient, and probably more dependable also. Having that 150 to 200 yd. range in the back end, would outway a whole lot of furnace thought. I'ld find out what the heat bill was for last year, coralate(?) what the new price would be with the increased cost. AND, find out if they used the wood burners. I save AT LEAST, $1,000 a winter with my 2 fireplace inserts.(I've got around 3.5-4 acres of woods on my property, so wood cost is just gas for the chain saws, log splitter, and asprins and Alieve for my back) Kinda long, hope I helped. gypsyman