best kind of boiler to buy - inputs welcome

john_181

Hello,  I am replacing an old GE cast iron boiler 288,000 BTU gas hot water boiler from 1955.  It is still working but I want to update.  What brands would you recommened.  I still want to use cast iron.  Please comment

Steamhead

First do a heat-loss calculation on your house

it's possible that boiler is oversized for the actual work it has to do. Never assume an old boiler is correctly sized. An oversized boiler wastes a lot of fuel.



Once the heat-loss is done, you'll know just how much heat you need to generate. Then you can look at boilers. For cast-iron hot-water I like the Solaia series with the HeatWise power gas burner. It offers better thermal efficiency than the usual atmospheric gas boiler.



Here's a Solaia of about the same heating capacitry as your old GE, heating a pair of 60-gallon indirect hot-water heaters as well as the house. This customer has a 75-gallon Jacuzzi that he wanted to be able to fill and still have enough hot water for other uses. He loves it.

CMadatMe

Boiler Choice

Do not size of the boiler off the old boiler. Have a heat loss done. You will probably find that you have more radiation than the heat loss requires which means you may be able to start a lower heating curve. My boiler choice would be Viessmann Vitola. Lit is attached

heatboy_30

GE Boilers....

.....At least the ones I have seen, were madr of steel and not cast iron. What are the connected emitters? Radiators?

john_181

rads

Yes the boiler is cast iron and the rads are cast iron as well

john_181

more info

the space to heat is 5000 sq ft one large room with 14 ceilings solid concrete walls and big glass display windows