boiler choice time

Bobbyd2727

Based on heat loss calculations for my 3000 sq ft home of 138,000 btu, I have had two heating contractors recommend:  the BurnhamMPO147  with an outdoor reset  with an Alliance SL 35 gallon indirect water tank, and the Buderus G215/3 with the logomatic  and the buderus S120 32 gallon indirect hot water tank .  Each contractor is comfortable with the installation and is highly  recommended.  This is one tough choice!  I see the specs compare at Burnham:  burner capacity 1.05gph,DOE heating capacity 129 MBH , IBR water rating 112,  AFUE 87% , water capacity 11.08 gallons.  The Buderus:  burner capacity 1.1gph, DOE heating capacity 134MBH, IBR water rating 117, AFUE 86.3%, water content 12.9 gallons.     Can anyone comment on these choices? 

Ron Jr._3

We install both

More MPOs than Buderus , but both are great choices . What brand boiler are you replacing ?



If you decide on the MPO and you like to look in on the system to see what's going on , I'd recommend having the optional LCD display installed also . 

Bobbyd2727

replacing an oldie

I'm replacing a thirty five year old cast iron Texaco fuel chief 139,000 btu boiler with a high speed beckett burner.  I'm hoping to save at least 25% on fuel oil.  What do you think?

Robert O'Brien

Buderus

Buderus would be my choice,we do about 50/year and the average savings is over 30%

Robert O'Brien

138,000?

How did you come up with that? Awfully high,that's over 41BTU/Sqft,something is not right

meplumber

Not that high.

Robert, I frequently have heat loss calcs reveal 42-43 btu/sq ft on old houses up here. With an old Texaco Chief, I would fair to guess that the house is at least 100 yrs old.



I don't think that his heat loss is that high if he is in an area with a -6 to -10 design temp.

Robert O'Brien

Not that old

The Texaco was a rebadged Dunkirk sold from the early 60's to the early 80'. Texaco bought Paragon Oil in 1960,anything older than that would be a Paragon.  And with regards to the heat loss quite a coincidence the heat loss is exactly the same as the existing unit,no? 41 BTU/sqft and the heat loss calc coming out the same as the unit already  there are both major red flags!

Bobbyd2727

house was built in 1971

Both contractors just walked through the house and said those boilers would be the ones to use since  I have vaulted ceilings in the kitchen and dining room and half of the main zone was on a slab they added btus because of those last two factors.  but did say 128000 to 138000 was a good estimate

meplumber

Heat loss calc

In your original post you stated that a heat loss calc gave you 138,000. Was one done?



I misread earlier. I thought that he said he had a Texaco burner. Most of those that I see are on coal conversions. My mistake Robert. I can safely say that I have never seen a Dunkirk installed in my coverage area.



What is the OP's location?

Robert O'Brien

Added BTU's?

I'd be shocked if the heat loss was more than 50% of 138K. Do the math now or pay for the wasted  oil forever!

Robert_25

fuel consumption for heat loss

Bobby, how many gallons of fuel do you normally burn per winter?

Bobbyd2727

gallons burned per year

In a typical cold winter here on Long Island  about 1000 gallons a year.  thats with the temperature set to 66 degrees fronm 3P.M. to 11 P.M.  and set to 60 degrees at night and most of the day when we are at work.I'm  using a programmable thermostat.  This year with the warm winter maybe will use 800 gallons.  I don't think these contractors did an accurate heat loss calculation because I got 61,000 btus with an estimated on line program.  If thats the case how would you size the boiler?

Robert O'Brien

Sounds about right!

for a 3K sq/ft house on LI. The smallest triple pass boilers are larger than that so the decision is pretty easy, you should see an easy 30% reduction. I'm on LI and that is the average results we've been getting.

Bobbyd2727

choosing the right size boiler

So then would the smallest Buderus Logano G115WS be a good choice?  The smallest size that is chimney vented outputs 85,000 BTU's.

Robert O'Brien

Yes

That would be my recommendation. I would also use a reset control,either the AquaSmart or Logamatic,depending on the application

Bobbyd2727

Thanks

Thanks for your advice!  I'd love to have you over for an estimate!  Are you near East Islip?

R Mannino

The G115/3

probably fits about 85% of the single family residences on Long Island. The climate here on the island is really not very severe in the winter. I put a G125BE/21 (73,000btu's) in my brothers 2500 sq ft home in Oakdale just about a year ago, he estimates about a 50% savings.



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R Mannino

Thanks for the work Bobbyd2727!!!

A pleasure meeting you as well. Enjoy the savings!

Robert O'Brien

Ditto!

I agree!!

Aaron_in_Maine

Nice

Nice work as always!

Steamhead

Agreed

so which Buderus did you end up using? 

R Mannino

It's a G115WS/3

Frank firing 0.7GPH, I expect the customer to save at least 30%.

Steamhead

At least!

nice work.

Bobbyd2727

new boiler

My thanks to Bob and his great team!  This new system is quiet and working efficiently to save oil already.  Its been five days and the reading on the logamatic display indicates five hours of operation which essentially means I,ve used about 3.5 gallons of oil! Its gotten down into the forties at night.  It not only looks beautiful but works great as well!!