Looking for a more efficient boiler...off the grid?

Patrick McGrath

Hello all:



I am interested in replacing my boiler with a more efficient one.  I had a heat loss calculation done on my home, and I found out that I am about 85,000 BTUs over load.  If you are at all interested, I attached the house sketches and the calculations.



Anyway, I am of the understanding that sizing the boiler correctly will help with the amount of natural gas that I am consuming.  Is that correct?



With that in mind, does anyone know of a high quality natural gas boiler that is fairly energy efficient (I think I am at 80% now)?  I am also interested in anyone's thoughts about going to coal or wood as solutions.  My radiant heat specialist found some really neat boilers that burn wood pellets, but they are only for hot water systems.  That would be the best solution, in my mind, if I could find one.  Two tons of wood pellets is running about $200.00 at Home Depot. 



The system works well as it is, by the way.  If you look at the calculations, I am really under load in one of the bedrooms (Katie's), and we think there were originally two rads in the room (there's a bump out from the bathroom where they added a shower, and my money's on that spot).  My plan is to get one that is much more in line with the rest of the house and remove the smaller one (thinking 10,000-12,000 BTUs, the line can handle up to 13,000).  An recent renovation by the prior owners also removed two of the rads in the kitchen.  It's cooler in there, and I found the runs, so we may add one to the room to at least stave off the cold.



Thanks for any help, and thanks for helping me get my house in order in less than a year after I bought it.  It's pretty toasty in our house.