Ultra

Boston

Ted:

There is an additional walk out basement and attic that can add another 1600-2000 sq feet if finsihed, and we put radiant tubing in the garage and I wanted that to be able to get to 60 plus.

And I think the next size down was a 105 so it did not make sense to go with that one.

Just got another bill for December, a little over 50% of the gas compared to my house, it looks like it edged up a bit as the weather became colder. (56% of gas for a 50% larger house) This makes sense I assume as it condenses less.

Boston

Report on Ultra

I thought I would send in the "report card"

Situation - 4300 sq ft home, Boston area, ultra 155, we also used isocyanate insulation at all rim joists and roof, fiberglass in walls, 2x6 construction.

Initial reccomendation based on heat loss by supply house was for an ULTRA 310.

It didn't seem right to me so I did a heat loss and calculated it to be roughly 140. Put in an ultra 155 on my risk(I am the general)

Plumber had never done a mod/con before(I have heard him on the phone reccoemending to many people since, like he invented the thing)

Results: Used exactly 50% of the gas that I used in my 3200 sq ft house in the same neighborhood. Both houses kept at 62, no hw load in the house(I own it until 2/7) but I was very impressed with the resuts.

Given this cold snap I was curious to see how the ultra would work on a "design day".

I went in when it was 9 outside and pushed the thermostat to 75, it went up about 4 degrees in 15 minutes, I concluded it would make temperature, got bored and left to have a beer.

Overall, it seems to work as advertised. Amazing fuel economy. o quiet you don't know its on. Vents easily. Compact. Good integrated control package. Reasonable price.

Not sure whats not to like.

My house has a w-m gold about 2 years old. Old house not well insualted etc etc.

There is something to this mod/con stuff.

Thaks again for all the help. Oh yeah, I know Floyd(who was a huge help!) could tune this thing to be even better, but the house is sold, I will let the new owner know he can program the burner if he gets bored with his computer.

Ken_40

Sounds like

an A+

Thanks for sharing.

You have confirmed: "Never allow an engineer or architect to do anything more then guesstimated heat loads."

brucewo1b

POOR Brad ;-)

ALH_4

heat load

Wait though, didn't he say the supply house did the original heat loss? Was that an architect or engineer? Maybe the lesson is to never let the supply house do any of your calculations.

We always love a good mod/con story. Thanks, Brian.

Constantin

As I see it...

... just goes to show how much value there is in a homeowner conducting his/her own heat loss calculation... and how much value a contractor that does a detailed heat loss / heat gain brings to the table.

Hopefully, as fuel prices keep creeping up, more and more homeowners will decide to get educated and start demanding/paying for the quality we see in the work of the contractors on the wall every day. Paying for a heat loss calculation is probably some of the best money spent!

Congrats on the results!

Tony_23

Yup

Supply house calc, IIRC.

Ken just feels the need to coin another phrase for his own use

Wait, maybe it was a "sales engineer" who did the calcs. Yeah, that's it. That would mean an engineer who is also an expert in marketing. Two birds with one stone

Ted_5

Still over sized!

What is the design temp in Boston? I am in WI and I have had it -30F at my house and I have only a Vitodens 6-24 on LP and that is only an input of 81,000 Btu's. My living space is 2365 sqft and my garage is 700 sqft that is kept only at 45F. That gives me almost 32 Btu's per/sqft and I think that is over sized, but it is the smallest Vitodens Viessmann has. Even if you needed 25 Btu's per/sqft X 4300 = 107,500 out. Just sounds big to me?

Ted

Boston

I have to confess...

I am a little more than a home owner.

But not by much.


Another interesting story.....
A friend of mine that is a GC was blabbing last night at a party about the munckins he installs. "Best boiler out there"

Nothing against munchkins, but he had never heard of viessman and could not say buderus. Lots of experts out there......He builds several 1.5M house a year......

Uni R_3

$2.5mm Munchkin

West Cost - saw this pic in a real estate listing!

Dave Larsen_2

supply house calcs!!

sorry guys, but I have to take offense to your comments about"supply house" calcs! I'm working for a supply house and do all the calcs. I'm not an engineer or an architect,but installed heating systems for over 25 years before working here and pride myself in my calcs and designs! If your supply house has let you down then maybe you should be looking for another supplier rather than assuming that all supply house calcs are worthless! Are we all to assume that all contractors are the same? It seems that Andrew and Tony have both had some bad experiences with the people they buy from. Too Bad! we're not all the same just like all contractors are not the same.Didn't Dan start out as a supplier too??

Tony_23

Whoa there, Big Fella

My post was tongue in cheek and directed at ONE person, not supply houses in general. I have engineer relatives and friends and a good supplier or two.

I was properly trained years ago and continue to learn. I have had exactly three calcs done by others in 24 years and have done well over a thousand for myself in that time. I like the responsibility of doing it myself, besides having it anyway if someone else's calcs are wrong and I install it.

Supply houses sell equipment. A lot of them "design" with that in mind, IMO. There is one near me who grossly oversizes everything and sells more circs and such each job it makes my head spin. They also sell AC to fit the capacity of the furnace instead of the load....

So yeah, I think I do a better job. I did not, however, take a jab at suppliers in general in my post. You are too defensive.