Choosing between two boilers

cgailey

Hello all-



I have a 35 year old American Standard gas boiler and 15 year old direct fired water heater that I am planning to replace.  I recently purchased a used 2001 Burnham 206 gas boiler, and then came into a weil mclain GV-6 series 2 boiler and bradford white indirect fired water heater.  I have been doing some research on the two systems, and I know that the burnham is a very simple, reliable boiler, with a great track record.  I bought the weil mclain mainly because I was interested in the water heater, which is only 2 years old.  Now I need to decide which boiler to install, and which to resell.  The burnham runs at 80% efficiency and the WM at 87%.  My install is in a garage with access to the original flue stack and exterior walls (all which lead underneath a deck).  I like the idea of the higher efficiency weil mclain, but from my research, it is older than the burnham and I have read about some problems with the GV6 units...mainly regarding the control module.  It currently has the 1013-200 control unit (and I have an extra one, not sure if it works), which I believe is an upgrade from the original unit the boiler came equipped with.  I read in another thread about lockout problems, and how one pro found a solution in replacing the blower unit. 



I am really not going to reap the efficiency benefits of the weil mclain unit as we plan to be selling the house this spring, but high efficiency systems are all the rage in Anchorage right now, and I thought it might be a good selling point.  I really just want to install a newer, more efficient system than what I have right now to provide buyers with peace of mind regarding their heating and hot water system.



So, to cut to the chase, is the higher efficiency of the WM unit worth the extra install work/cost and potential maintenance issues, or is the proven reliability of the burnham and simpler install the better choice.



I should also mention that I do not have any of the vent piping with the WM, but got the power dampered flue with the burnham, which would result in a pretty straight forward swap with my current unit.



Thanks for your advice.



Chad