One boiler or two?

alfadoc

First post here. Just bought a 4800 sq ft monster of a house, built in 1893, in central VA. It currently has all of it's original hot water radiators and radiator piping, and a gas fired, hot water boiler that's about 35 years old. What I'd like to have is a condensing boiler, and at least two zones on the main floor and two zones on the 2nd. First question is, are there any advantages or disadvantages to two small boilers, one for each floor, as opposed to one boiler for the whole property? Second question, am I going to end up having to re-pipe all of the radiators individually in order to accomplish the goal of individual zones? Finally, my skill set includes plumbing, wiring, rough and finish carpentry, etc. How much of this can I reasonably expect to do myself, and what should I turn over to a pro.

Thanks in advance,

Joel Hailey

CMadatMe

One Boiler

Joel,



First step find a contractor that will work with you. At some point your going to need a pro anyway. Second step, have the pro do a heat loss. You may be surprised to see what the actual heat loss is compared to what is installed today. If I were a betting man I'd says the loss is somewhere in the neighborhood  of 135 to 140k on the high side which is not a load that would require 2 boilers.

To answer your question about the piping. I can't and neither can anyone here. They can't see what's existing. You are at the most citical stage in your project. The planning stage. My best advice is to utilize the 7 p's....Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance and will save you a whole heck of alot of agravation and money in the end. Best of luck. I know a guy in Charlotesville area Piedmont Radiant. This is right up his ally if you need a good contractor.

Charlie from wmass

As stated above and...

depending on the existing piping and how much of the house will be opened for renovations you could zone room by room and use a mod con with an outdoor setback to really drop the heat bill. depending on budget geothermal and /or solar can even be integrated.

bob eck

boiler

check to see if anyone in your area sells and installs triangle tube prestige solo boilers and their smart indirect stainless steel water heaters.

great boilers and water heaters.

one boiler should do it to heat the house and domestic water. with only one boier you only have to vent one boiler.

depending on your piping you could do 4 zones and the fifth would be the indirect water heater.

does the house have a pool out side or are you planing on getting a spa for out side because you could heat the pool or spa water through this boiler and some pool/spa heat exchangers.

Paul Pollets

Replacement

It's a good time to replace the valves on the radiators with TRV's when the system is drained..  Try Dan Foley at Foley Mechanical. Sometimes he'll travel, and it's worth asking the question.