Increase efficiency

Paul_86

The house is 2,800 square feet built in 1993 in New York. We consume about 850 gallons of oil a year. The boiler is a Crown Bahama (Builders Grade) oil burner about 80,000 BTU. I am looking to decrease my oil consumption. I am considering a Intellicom or Beckett Heat Manager or a high efficiency boiler. Does someone have experience with the Beckett Heat Manager 10-20% savings or System 20000 40% percent savings. Are the savings realistic?

Robert O'Brien

I've

installed many of each,and yes they basically do what they say.Beckett has a guarantee of 10% savings,can't lose there!I would estimate a System 2K would do about 35% better than a wet base pin boiler with a tankless coil.
It's a totally different level of investment,hundreds vs thousands.

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Steve Ebels_3

Your best investment

Will always be in weatherproofing and insulating your home. I have advised many customers to spend $3-4,000 with a good insulating company rather than investing in a high efficiency boiler. Insulation is a one time expense that pays back both summer and winter for the rest of the life of the home.

Even if you save 10% with a Beckett heat manager you are looking at a reduction of only 85 gallons of fuel. At $4/gl you're looking at only $325-350 per year. A full blown change out to a higher efficiency boiler may net you 20-30% or about 200 gallons/$800. A boiler along those lines like a Buderus Blue Flame will cost upwards of $5,000 to 6,000 or more to install. (hypothetical figures that will vary widely depending on your particular situation) The payback is a long ways down the road even at today's prices. If oil doubles again in the next 5-6 years obviously the math changes substantially.

JMHO and your situation may be different. A worthy heating contractor can help you make your decision.

J.C.A._3

I'm with Steve.

Improve the envelope and keep the heat where it belongs longer. Ask your service provider if there is an outside air kit for your burner available and tighten the place up.Chris

Keith_8

hot water?

Paul,
Do you use oil for your domestic hot water?

If so, 850 gallons for a 2800 square foot house is pretty good.

Keith

[Deleted User]

Hi Paul:

HO here, so I can't give professional opinion. Have you read the BNL report? I started a thread on a similar topic here:

http://forums.invision.net/Thread.cfm?CFApp=2&Thread_ID=57648&mc=1

Anyway, the report seems to dismiss AFUE ratings as a measure of 'system' efficiency, which most here seem to agree. What I could glean from the report, to increase efficiency, was to look for systems that are well insulated, use boiler post purge control and are cold start (i.e. minimize stand-by losses). It so happens, two completely different systems w/ the highest fuel savings had these traits in common. ODR controls were also mentioned to increase efficiency.

My understanding is you do not need the priority EK Heat Manager or the Buderus Logmatic control to get this functionality. Honeywell and Tekmar controls can be used on most systems.

Hope that helps....a little.

Brad White_191

I agree with Keith

Even without domestic HW, assuming maybe 6800 degree days and a design delta-T of 80 degrees (both could be more depending if Long Island or Plattsburgh, White Plains, Geneva or Watertown), I would expect an 80 MBH load to be more than 850 gallons of oil per year.

Not to say "be complacent", rather, that you may find your gains smaller for more expense.

Given that your house is fairly new (15 years), probably has better than historic averages of insulation, I would look at air leaks as a place to tighten up the ship.

A blower door test is one way. Absent that, close all the windows but one or two and put in the biggest window fans you can, blowing out, -or use a whole-house fan but with the windows all closed.

Go room by room and close the doors one by one to see if there is air leaking in to the core. Go along the basement sill to feel for air leaks. Air leaks up and around plumbing chases are a huge chimney. Peel back the attic insulation if applicable and foam seal there. Black insulation says "filtered outgoing air", so there is a clue.

See what you can do there, then work on the mechanicals. Outdoor reset properly applied is a proven energy saver.

Even if you did nothing, yes you are paying a lot, but probably a lot less than your neighbors. Not that it matters, do what you can.

My $0.02

Brad

Ken Field

AFUE does not apply

if you use your boiler for domestic hot water. It is like trying to figure out miles per gallon on a delivery truck. If it idles for 10 minutes every time it stops to make a delivery, the mpg is useless and misleading information.
A cheap conventional boiler leaks heat like bathtub with the drain open. The chimney pulls heat through the burner and boiler and picks up as much heat as possible then throws it outside. The jacket is a joke with 1/2 inch of fiberglass glued to it and a nice 1" or more airspace in between the insulation and the boiler so more heat can be drawn up and out into the room adding load eventually to the air conditioner. Duh. Post purge reduces the boiler temp so there is less heat to be lost up the chimney and into the room. Low mass makes the leftover heat even less. What people don't seem to grasp is that a cheap boiler hurts energy consumption more in the spring, summer, and fall than it does in the dead of winter.

Ken

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