Oversized boilers - what can be done?

elfie

not a new issue.



there are so many oversized boilers out there - not really practical to replace



what can be done to mitigate the problem



thanks

Jamie Hall

It's a good practical question...

particularly in a tight economy -- so often replacing a boiler just isn't in the homeowner's budget.



Sometimes you can downfire -- depends on the boiler, the burner, and where you are starting from.  Can't hurt to investigate.



Run a low pressure, but keep the differential wide -- if you are running a good vapourstat, the cutin can be as low as 1 ounce (pity that it is so difficult to run a vacuum -- between the potential control problem and a lack of high capacity vacuum vents and system leakage, though, it doesn't seem practical most of the time)



Add radiation (not as crazy as it sounds, although it can be expensive).  For instance, as a really off the wall idea, if there is air conditioning ducting, can you put a fan coil in?  Might be able to sell some humidity control that way, too!



Just for starters...



Oh and one other thing -- unless the monster is really oversized, the efficiency loss isn't as bad as one might think, although the annoyance factor can be!