Moving from oil to propane heat-- make sense?

amazer98

Hi -- I'm a newbie to this forum, but I've done a lot of googling

lately on the topic of residential propane heating systems lately, and

this site has often been in the top search results. I've learned a lot,

but somehow still feel a bit clueless about the best way to move ahead

with our plans to retire our 25 year old oil boiler and move to a

greener propane system.







I live in southern NH in a 25 year old cape.... 2100 sq. ft., with 2x4

construction. Five years ago, I added blown in insulation to our attic

to get it to R40... We also recently replaced some indows and the front

and back doors, so the house is decently tight, if not fodder for the

cover story in Insulation Monthly magazine.



Anyway, with the volatility of oil prices, I thought that switching to

propane might makes sense, both economically and environmentally. I've

looked into modcon boilers, which a couple of local contractors have

recommended, including the company that supplies us oil ( they also deal

in propane).





I like the concept of modcons, tho I do have some concern about their

longevity. More to the point, I wonder if our house is well-suited for

modcons. I think our downstairs area in particular does not have enough

baseboard. On cold days of say zero degrees, our boiler fires away yet

the house can get up to only 66 degrees or so.



Fortunately, the temps

are usually not that cold.



If we are "under-baseboarded" with copper/aluminum finned board, that

means that a modcon wouldn't do much condensing during most of winter,

right?, since it would be heating water to 180 degrees or more. Would we

not be better off with a conventional gas boiler, perhaps one with an

outdoor sensor that modulated the water temps to align with the outside

temp?





I have a general question about copper baseboard: does not the

efficiency of these convective baseboards drop off with cooler water

temps? If so, perhaps the condensing boilers and also even the

modulating ones are not suited for copper baseboard.



At first I was thinking of a Triangle Tube Prestige Solo modcon, but now

I'm wondering if a conventional gas boiler like a Veissmann Vitola (if I

can afford it) would make sense.





Or should I stay with our oil burner for a few more years? I burn about 830

gal/yr with an indirect hot water tank and a wood stove I fire up most

winter afternoons.



By the way, natural gas is not an option in our semi-rural town, tho one

of my neighbors heats with bituminous coal and says it saves him a

fortune.





Thanks, guys, I really appreciate any insights you can offer!

lchmb

heat loss

The first thing you need to have done is a heat loss.  At that point you can see if you have enough baseboard and also what size heating system you should have. The outdoor reset is a must in any situation as a boiler is only sized on the coldest day or two of the year and the rest of the time is over sized. I like the Triangle tube, excellent boiler and i would definately opt for this over a standard cast iron boiler....

Steamhead

What are

the costs per BTU of oil and propane in your area? 

kcopp

I would do...

two things. Insulate the envelope better... seal it up. Keep the oil. I live in NH also (Dover) and LP is no bargain here. 1 gal. of LP is about 91k btu and 1 gal. of #2 oil in about 140k btu. do the math you still ahead of the game. If you want to upgrade your system oil is still a better set up. Good oil is around 86% afue and good LP 95%. You sure about Nat gas? Unitil has been moving out a lot this past year...kpc