Should I replace my 27 year-old Pennco Boiler??

J.C.A._3

The way it is now might be good enough, but think "long term". How long do you plan to live in the home. If it's going to be more than 5 years, the payback could come that quickly, but the investment will pay for itself in re-sale value many times over.

I'm coming back to the oldest fallback on the board right now.....It depends! Personally, I would think that replacement is going to be worth it in the long haul.Anything installed in 1978 is going to be in the mid 70's-low 80's combustion effeciency wise, but the home could benefit form a proper heat loss calculation, and perhaps having it heat fully and comfortably at lower temperatures. (see the logic?) Chris

Mike Giammarino

Should I replace my 27 year-old Pennco Boiler??

We moved into a house in northern NJ last year and the home inspector at the time told me the original boiler is probably nearing the end of it's life. The house was built in 1978, so the boiler is 27+ years old. It's a cast iron Pennco boiler - I was told by one of the guys I had come give me a replacement estimate that they aren't the best, based on their only the 1 yr warranty (which I confirmed) they gave when new.

My question is: Do I replace a boiler that isn't leaking and seems to run fine?

The reason I'm thinking of doing it is I have 2 kids (one is a newborn), and am concerned the boiler might die on me in the middle of January/February and I have to move into my in-laws while it gets fixed, also freezing pipes would be a concern. Plus I thought I might be able to save a bit on natural gas heating costs with a newer/more efficient boiler.

Does the old motto apply here: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" ??

Guy_6

Efficiency

I would begin by determining the efficiency of the old boiler- that alone will probably answer the question for you.
After nearly 30 years that boiler doesn't owe the home anything, so it may be beat to replace it on YOUR terms instead of IT'S terms. Somehow they sense the worst possible time to fail.....

Constantin

It depends..

Just because a boiler is old does not necessarily mean that replacing it immeadiately will result in huge cost savings. The emitters in your home also play a big role, as does insulation, weatherization, etc.

I would start by insulating and weatherizing the house with a good insulation system (dense-pack cellulose or foam) if it isn't already (it ought to be, considering when it was built). Then move on to size the boiler to meet the design-day load (i.e. the load at the coldest time of the year). You can backtrack this via old gas bills, heating-degree-day data for your area, and the results of a combustion analyzer test giving you the net efficiency of the boiler, or you can estimate it via a heat loss estimating program.

If you have "oversized" baseboard or standing radiators, chances are that a condensing, modulating boiler will make a lot sense once the house is tight and weatherized. These boilers love to run at lower temperatures for maximum efficiency. If your emitters are higher-temperature, a regular cast-iron boiler hooked up to a primary-secondary loop with an outdoor reset controller can make more sense.

I'd price it all out and see what the potential payback of each boiler is. If you can take full advantage of cold return water temperatures (i.e. below 120°F), then a condensing/modulating boiler ought to save you at least 10% over a well-installed noncondensing boiler. One participant here who switched from an 80% efficient gas atmospheric boiler to a 94% Vitodens reported a 43.6% drop in gas consumption. However, he has large standing radiators fitted with TRV valves in a well-insulated home, and hence is a perfect candidate for a modulating/condensing boiler.

Other customers reported 35% drops in their fuel consumption after making a similar switch. However, as Leo G. elaborated, the energy efficiency increase jumping from a well-installed CI boiler to a mod/con boiler may not be as great. Thus, go and find an expert (perhaps there is someone listed under "Find a Pro"?) and then have your home evaluated for efficiency improvements and boiler requirements.