Oil to Gas conversion tips?....cosmo

bill_97

This was in a closet in the middle of the house . A royal pain to get the gas into this room . And we installed an aquabooster in there to complicate things ..... We had to move the boiler back to fit the tank in . I wanted to repipe the whole friggin' thing , but that was not in the cards .

The gas gun is quieter than the oil burner it replaced . You also need to use that double acting draft regulator , and fit it into the run of a tee , not in the tradition spot - the bull . Performance - I timed the heatup with the oil and gas guns . It took 8 minutes to bring the boiler from street water temperature to 180 degrees with the oil burner . It took 11 minutes to bring the boiler from 100 to 180 with the gas gun . I did have the gas gun firing around 75,000 btus and the oil bunner was probably around 85,000 .

Cosmo_3

Hearing the buzzzz

I have been hearing a lot about oil to gas conversions.

I received a flyer in the mail from a manufacturer's rep on gas guns.

My stance had always been that I would consider if the boiler manufacturer offers a gas burner as an option. That way I know it has been tested.

In my conversation the rep noted that I am too conservative and that his product manufacturer will warranty application in all current oil boilers.

What experience do you guys have with these?

thanks in advance,

Cosmo

Robert O'Brien

No Problems

with a conversion power burner in a solid oil boiler. How many fairly new pin type oil boilers are out there?

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Cosmo_3

new info

I just spoke to someone who used to rep the Midco gas conversion burner line from '70 to '81. Though they may have new designs he is not aware of, from what he remembers these were some things to watch for-

"I was the rep for Midco burners in 1979, 80, 81 and we sold thousands of units.
They worked great.
Now that was then and now is a different time.
Here are some of the issues that have changed,
Boilers are lower mass, lower mass means smaller fire box.
Midco has replaced the units I sold with new models and I do not know anything about them.

Issues, when Appling a conversion burner, depth of firebox is critical, too short and impingement occurs, impingement equals carbon monoxide.

What we did was add refractory blankets at the base and rear of the fire box to insure we would not impinge. YOU MUST TAKE A CARBON MONOXIDE READING WHEN THE INSTALL IS COMPLETE!

All chimneys must be lined with metal liner. If you use an aluminum liner the chimney cannot have any soot in it or the soot will eat the aluminum.

Barometric's must be changed to double swing barometrics. The oil barometric is single swing and must be replaced.

If I can remember anything else I’ll write or call you."

I just thought someone else may find this useful

Cosmo

Robert O'Brien

I'd

use Riello,Carlin or Heatwise.

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Cosmo_3

Hey Robert, any idea if this conversion makes sense?

Seems like this conversion can get pricey esp when the chimney needs lining, I wonder what the oil vs gas/lp ratio needs to be to make this job economically feasible

Trying to adapt to the times...

Cosmo

Keith_8

Conversion?

Assuming a typical oil boiler that is being considered for conversion was built for high stack temps I would say it's not worth it at today's fuel prices.

Instead of dressing up old technology I would recommend spending the $ on a new MOD CON. The money spent on lining the chimney won't be necessary with direct venting and your stack temps will be minimal.

Keith

Cosmo_3

problem is

not everyone has the dough for a modcon, though I have put a few in already.

Keith_8

Fair enough

The price can be prohibitive.

In my own case I'm going to install an outdoor reset, down fire the burner, insulate the piping and see what that does for me.

The system is almost 10 years old and hasn't had even the most minor issue. I hate to mess with that.

Keith

tim smith

Question for all on this subject

We have done lots of conversion burners/power burners over the years but I am reluctant to put a conversion burner on the Crown freeport boiler. Just too small of fire box for my liking although there is a guy around here who likes to jury rig them together. What ya all think on this specific boiler. Thanks, Tim

Jim_139

Oil to gas

There are a lot of folks converting from oil to gas based on today's prices of each fuel. There is also the concern about the amount of oil imported from other countries. What about natural gas? At present most of it is domestic. However, there is a decline in the amount of gas available from domestic wells even though more wells are being drilled.

Canada is our largest single foreign supplier. Their gas reserves are starting to get a little tight. We are starting to import more LNG to feed our energy appetites. At some point in time NG will again become as expensive or more expensive than fuel oil, which by the way has the advantage that oil burners can burn bio fuel.

Will homeowners switch back to oil? If they have installed a mod/con it would mean re-installing a more traditional boiler vs just the burner.

The gas companies crow about gas being the best option for heating, the seemingly endless supply and moving away from dependence on other countries for our energy needs. However, independent data shows that although more wells are being drilled than ever, the average well is 56% depleted in the first year of production. More wells are needed to even keep up to present consumption.

OK, soapbox goes back in the closet for future use.

Unknown

As one who has installed over

3,500 conversion burners I can tell you that converting oil boilers to gas is not a problem if you know what you are doing. If you are looking for help I sell a manual on conversion burner installtion, setup, and combustion testing.All of Cosmos concerns are addressed there. I am also running a two day class in September on the 22nd and 23rd. That class will qualify a contractor to be able to effectivly install a conversion burner.

All of the concerns voiced here in this posting can be addressed and still be cost effective in the long run.

I always tell customers to look at the cost of new high efficiency equipment and then look at the possibility of doing something to improve the present heating system.

I am not a fan of converting real old equipment from the era of 1945 to 1955. Anything after that has possibilities.

As for chimneys most clay tile lined chimneys work real well with conversion burners so relining is not an issue. You can not use "B" vent or aluminum with conversions so that is out after that relining may be an issue. Hopefully on a fairly new oil install the chimney has been addressed and does not need attention other than cleaning.

Properly setup and fired to maximum design perimeters a modern power gas burner can get around 80 to 85 percent combustion efficiency.

Finally there is plenty of natural gas for the next 100 years if the government and suppliers would quit fighting over cost factors and get it piped to the ones who need it. The politics in the fossil fuel business is why we are where we are.

tim smith

Re: liners for conversions

Hey Tim, they allow aluminum or b vent stack liners here, I won't do it but it is allowed. I think flex aluminum not allowed due to gauge. And also as long as it's a negative draft stack. Just a note.

Unknown

ANSI Z21.8 Installation of

Domestic Gas Conversion Burners prohibits the use of "B" vent and aluminum on any gas conversion due to possible temperatures above 500 degrees in the flue.