oil to gas conversion

jonny88

besides the cleanliness is there financially any benefits to swicyhing over to gas boilers

Jean-David Beyer

benefits to swicyhing over to gas

One benefit is you do not have to worry about oil tanks leaking and causing very expensive environmental remediation to be needed.



If you want the maximum efficiency, you may be able to use a modulating|condensing boiler with outdoor reset. I am not sure you can get that with an oil burner, and even if you can, its efficiency will probably be less. But a mod|con is unlikely to benefit you unless you have enough heat emmitter capacity to permit running at temperatures where you get significantly low temperatures of return water; strictly below 130F, and preferably below 100F a lot of the time. N.B. I am not commenting about steam heat: I do not know enough to talk about that, but others here do.



Another is that you do not need a new oil filter, gasket, and burner nozzle every year.



One you do not get, but seems to be widely believed (even by my former contractor) is that it does not require an annual service. I am not a professional, but my guess is that if you forget a service, you may get away with it longer. But I suggest you not try it; you can die just as dead from CO poisoning, for example, with gas as you can with oil.

Paul Fredricks_3

OK, but 2 things

Oil leaks and remediation. Yeah, if your oil tank is in the ground get it out. I find most tanks are in the basement, so not so much of a risk of major leak. Better though than a gas leak. Of course, then there may not be anything left to clean up.



sorry, just couldn't resist.



One thing about oil and CO; Usually if you are venting oil combustion gases into a dwelling you'll smell them which will warm you of an issue. Not so much with gas.



Yeah, I personally would not switch from one to the other, either way. A System 2000's operating efficiency is right up there with a condensing gas boiler, according to BNL.

Jean-David Beyer

if you are venting oil combustion gases into a dwelling

You are right about that. I had an oil burner, now replaced by gas. Squirrels build a 4-foot plug in my chimney one summer. When I started the boiler up that fall, it was painfully obvious that I had a problem. The boiler was in the attached garage, and before I could get to the power switch, the indoor smoke detector was screaming. Waste of time; I did not need a smoke detector to tell that. I could smell it. I could see it.



Now I have gas. I also have two smoke detectors and two CO detectors. But when they were installing the gas boiler, they had a gas leak that the contractors' people could smell, but I could not. I used to be able to smell it, but I guess I lost that in my old age.

Paul Fredricks_3

I hear you

I've been around oil for quite a while. I'm fairly numb to the smell. My wife and kids always know when I've been working on an oil system.

jonny88

what a great site

thanks all for your comments and time.i do like all the new modcon boilers but when you get a problem which you will enjoy your phone call with tech support especially when you are in the basement with no phone service,navien was our biggest headache yet,they sent a rep from connecticut to manhattan for us,the fix took 20 minutes.has anyone tried the buderus oil boiler

BobC

Simple

There is a lot to like about a simple and reliable heating system. My steam boiler is not as efficient as the newest gear but in the last 14 years I've only had to call for service once (outside of the yearly cleanouts). If it stops working I can usually figure out why in 15 minutes and parts are very easy to get.



A number of years back a buddy of mine had a new condensing gas boiler installed. It was really a honey but the service guy was over there every week and it was pretty obvious the company was struggling with these boilers.



Bob

icesailor

Oil to gasconversion/Cost of fuel:

Here is an analogy I use:

I only deal with oil and LPG

I saw to customers:

Lets make this something you can relate to. Here are two, gallon buckets. We will call a one (1) BTU, a penny, There are 91,000 pennies (BTU's) in a gallon of propane. There are 139,000 pennies (BTU's) in a gallon of #2 heating oil. Here we have a bucket with 91,000 pennies in it. This other one has 139,000 pennies. Get the cost of LPG from your gas supplier and the price of oil from your supplier and decide which bucket you want. It matters not to me which one you choose. I install and service them both.

Every one I gave the choice to, chose oil