About to replace my HB Smith boiler

alfetta33

I am about to replace my oil fired HB Smith FD12-W-4 boiler.

I have a 2 story colonial with 20 windows.

The heating capacity of this boiler is 127 MBH.

When I read specs of some of the boiler I have researched there a reference to input MBH and output MBH. The number are quite different from each other.

1. which MBH should I be concerned with in comparing with my HB Smith?

2. the house is 28 years old should consider a higher MBH.

3. should I consider a 4 sections as I presume my old is?

4. What is the best oil fire boiler out there? Is Peerless one of them?

5. I know I read some post where the answer to the above is always accompanied with make  sure you have a good installer.

6. How do I find a good installer, often a plumber is the installer and the oil supplier is    the maintainer. How do I rate either of them?

Thank you

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l'alfa 33 che bella

contattami privatamente,ciao....

Tundra

Boiler selection

You want to get a far more efficient boiler than the one you have now so the out put will help you. Also on the coldest day of the year does your boiler run for less than ten minutes at a time? If so your present one is too big. The best is to do a heat load on your house. I recommend a cold start boiler with an AFUE of at least 86%. Spend a few bucks extra and upgrade to a reset control. It will pay off.

icesailor

Replacing Boiler:

I personally ALWAYS go by the IBR number. That is what the tested and rated output is allowing for piping loss and pick up. It is what the boiler can actually deliver to the system in a normal situation. It is also the lowest number. 

But absolutely, get a new accurate heat loss calculation for the house. Don't go by the old boiler of the installed radiation unless it is a steam system.

Peerless boilers are OK but I find Weil-McLain WGO/WTGO's to be far easier to work on and get really good results. Others have their favorites. I find WGO's to be relatively bomb proof.

Someone insists that it be run as "cold start" He must not clean and service them. "Cold Start" is the worst resurrected old idea that ever came along. Specious claims are made about how much more efficient this is because you eliminate stand-by losses. I personally consider that to be total bovine excrement. After a few months of cold exhaust collecting in the boiler passages, the efficiency goes in the can, to join the air pollution. Cold Start exhaust debris is a cementious material that can only be removed with a soot saw and a piece of 1/4" threaded rod. Unless the cleaner sucks it out of the bottom of the chamber, it gathers there for years. I've seen it as high as 3". A warm start will be a light layer of brown ash that brushes out with a small radiator brush and leaves the bare cast iron exposed. The cold start is left with a hard black carbonized material. It insulates the boiler quite well.

A cold start boiler MUST be thoroughly cleaned every year. A warm start can go for a couple of years, depending on burner and boiler. I have the personal experience and proof.  

Robert O'Brien

Icesailor

I disagree on almost everything! A steam boiler is sized to the radiation,the existing boiler size is useless information. Other than heat only pin boilers,cold start is absolutely the way to go. Why would you want standby loss? To keep the outmoded,obsolete pin boiler clean? I have a better idea,get a boiler design that CAN cold start. Pin boilers are 40 year old designs that are obsolete and are being sold to the public because it suits the manufacturers,il companies and knuckle dragging Techs who don't know any better. BTW, oil on LI averages $3.68.6/gallon as of Monday. What reason on earth would anyone want a less efficient boiler?

Charlie from wmass

All boilers need cleaned every year

If you are replacing your boiler for hot water systems you do a heat loss of your building. If this is a steam boiler you match to your radiation square footage with a pick up factor of about 1/3 for pipe and system losses. So the answer is neither number on the smith matters.

icesailor

Cold Kool Aid Start.

You must not clean them. Ask anyone who seriously cleans boilers and they will tell you that a warm start boiler is always cleaned in the same given time. I've serviced warm start boilers that had proper filtration and were set up properly that ran as well after three years as the day they were cleaned and set up. And were running fine after three years when they were serviced. I've also seen cold start boilers that were plugged almost solid after one year.  I've never seen a cold start boiler that didn't have black soot and kibbles and crumbles in it. I clean well running warm start boilers with a radiator brush. I clean cold start boilers with a Soot Saw and a piece if 1/4" threaded rod stuck in a file handle.

The rules of combustion don't change. Cold engines run poorly until warmed up. Cold boilers are cold engines. Auto engines get their efficiency by getting hot as quick as they can and use a lean burn technology. Aircraft engines reach their peak efficiency when you adjust the engine settings to get high exhaust gas temperatures.

The hot exhaust gases in a boiler hitting the cold boiler surfaces condense and make those rotten kibbles and bits.

I'll take a clean warm start boiler with some standby losses for a year or two over a filthy, crudded up boiler making kibbles and bits every time it fires off on a call any day. Since 12/20/10, I've been burning 3 gallons a day. I have a big house. How much would I save in standby losses over a dirty boiler?

maineheat

Find a reputable heating company.

You should find a reputable heating company to work with and who will give you proper options.  The best equipment and service will come from the company that will do both.  They will also work with an engineer from their supply house who will do a heat loss and determine the proper size boiler and give you various hot water options.  The mom and pop oil company up the street with a couple of techs hanging around are not always the best service and having a plumber install the boiler means more money because they usually are not licensed to wire and fire the boiler, just set it in place and pipe it.  As for my personal favorite boiler is the Buderus G115 and the Pensotti DKll.  Both feature Riello burners.  The Pensotti is less money than the Buderus and does the same thing.  The Peerless boiler is NOT a good option.  The Pensotti DKll runs almost 88% efficient and is very competetive price wise.  It comes with an outdoor reset ready control and using Tekmar controlling, you can do anything and more than the Buderus Logomatic.  Good luck