Best Of
Re: Replacing an old/inefficient oil burner with...an oil burner (?) Or...?
It is unlikely that replacing the boiler with any option would save enough to pay back in 15-18 years.
It is worth figuring out if the system is designed correctly and if the burner is set up right but beyond things like that, changing equipment is likely to cost more than you will save.
If you are also making dhw with the boiler, that could potentially be made to cut standby losses significantly for relatively little cost.
mattmia2
Re: Burnham Heat Exchange Leak - RV5NSL-L2 Boiler Seal to slow and plan for replacement?
It looks like you will easily make it to spring only another 4-6 weeks.
I would avoid sealer unless the leak gets much worse.
Re: Burnham Heat Exchange Leak - RV5NSL-L2 Boiler Seal to slow and plan for replacement?
@New England SteamWorks or @Charlie from wmass
And don't buy another Burnham. There failure rate in MA & Rhode Island is excessive. Especially with a water boiler you should have got more than 20 years out of it.
Re: Packing Heat
Perfect is the enemy of good enough. The goal isn't to use zero grid but minimize it since it is expensive. With your costly power, even an oversized zero export setup where you waste some solar has a good ROI. With a bit of home automation, you can set the heat pump to run when you have extra PV and try to coast through peaks.
You can also install an oversized resistance tank with a diversion controller to capture the excess PV. These are very common item overseas but are now some available here as well.
Some car chargers also have the option to monitor load and can throttle back if the sun is not shining.
Kaos
Oil Burner Tools
To All the Old timers who worked on oil burners what are some old tools that you have or had that you used specifically for troubleshooting oil burners. I.E: Osv tool or oil line watcher, on watch or even inline gauges. I work on quite a bit of oil burners in commercial space it’s crazy how the old stuff seems to work the best.
Radiant Therapy.....
Working summers since age 9, 8 years of tackle football, 5 years of rugby, 40 years of Plumbing & yanking boiler sections up & out of basements takes it toll…Usually don't sleep well or more than a few hours at a clip.
This morning at 3am I plunked down on the mudroom floor with a pillow & blanket with my trusty GSHP Tillman & slept like a baby for 3.5 hours!!
Hot bath without the jacuzzi...Mad Dog
Re: Radiant Therapy.....
There are claims that properly grounding the body while you sleep can help with a lot of health issues. I get adds for grounding pads regularly, but haven’t really looked into it.
Maybe there’s something to it?
Ironman