Natural gas conversion, Riello or Carlin EZ

conversiontime

I know this question has been asked before and opinions seem to be both manufacturers make burners that are very good for nat gas conversion. All contractors that bid on this job recommend either carlin or riello. The two bids/contractors I like best are very close in price with difference of burner only. I am leaning towards riello since they seem to be more expensive/ better quality but if ez is just as good for less $, that is good too. Any idea if one burner is quieter or superior to the other? These will be on running on a 205k btu steam boiler.



thanks

Steamhead

What make and model

is the boiler you want to convert?

Aaron_in_Maine

Depends

If tuned right the new burner will be more quiet than oil.  Depending on the boiler some models just run loud.

conversiontime

re boiler model

Am traveling this week so not sure of exact model number but it is dunkirk oil steam boiler installed 1997 w/ approx 1.8gph burn rate and btu output approx 205k. Still running original beckett afg50 burner. Burner/boiler serviced annually and still fires approx 83-84- % every year on tune up notes. Both contractors say the boiler still looks very good and either conversion burner should work well. I am now leaning toward the carlin ez gas as the contractor gave me an even better price since initial bid to try and close the deal. I am curious how pro ez gas installers feel about the burner cover, seems to make sense to me to have one with the install.  Does a cover help muffle noise? I assume either burner should be quieter as the becket afg50 fires  very loudly (fan and pump).



Converting is  no brainer with free nat gas line run to house, 50 year old basement tank (still ok it seems even with its original "guaranteed for one year" install tag dated 1963!), 15 year old burner that can be fussy during our long 6 month heating season. I want a conversion gas gun that can really workhorse these long NE winters.

Steamhead

Yes, get the cover

it does muffle the fan noise, and you can have an outdoor air intake added to it later if you wish.

Tim McElwain

What is your location

in New England?

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model number

the boiler is a dunkirk model 4ES185C

I live in Bangor ME area (or as locals say, area-er) where heating season is 6 months (or worse). I spent hours today looking through all the helpful posts here, thanks to all for a great resource (esp tim and frank)



The carlin ez contractor said "riello is a good burner but we have installed hundreds of the ez burners with very few problems so that is what we go with". riello contractor says "carlins are good burners, but the price difference in bids is due to cost of burner--riello quality is much higher and it is a superior product"



a price check at major burner supply house confirms riello 40 series run 50% more than carlin ez, which is difference in bids. beleive carlin is built in Massachusetts and riello in Canada?



thanks again, will select the contractor next week and will be sure to post a follow up with the final install

conversiontime

one year update

Hey everyone



Just wanted to give a one year update on the Riello G40 NG burner. It has run flawlessly since install and I have been pleased with its performance. A little loud but the boiler is a big one. Burned about 1400 therms over the last year, about what was expected vs 1000 gallons of oil. The 1400 includes running the stove (formerly propane) as well as raising the thermostat about 4 degrees over oil. So overall I'd say the Riello NG burner runs as efficient, if not slightly more, than the previous oil burner.

Rod

Conversion Update

Thanks for updating us. Glad to hear it's working out well for you.

SWEI

One year math

Can you share your fuel costs for those periods?  Just curious.

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my fuzzy math

Rough approximations on oil cost as did not keep great records. NG use is to the dime as per kept bills. Note house uses boiler year round for hot water coil, but in summer boiler is kept manually shut down often except for hw needs. Point is boiler energy use is constant year round. yoy averages below



2009/10=   970 gallons @ avg cost 2.10 = $2037 (this was after oil crashed post 150 record)

2010/11=  940 gallons @ avg cost 2.97 = $2762 (therm dialed way down)

2011/12 = 950 gallons @ avg cost 3.25 = $3087 (another cold one)



in all oil years also ran propane stove @ avg annual cost of approx 225.00



2012/13 = 1410 therms @ avg cost 1.38 = $1945 (note massive NG spike in northern NE during winter season, therm is valued on floating monthly gate contracts). Rough est is this past winter season  NG use equates to 1.93 gallon oil. Did raise therm 4 degrees and no propane costs.



your fuzzy math calcs may vary

michaeld816

Stove or Range?

When you say LP "stove" are you referring to a heating stove, or are you talking about a cooking range? I'm curious because I'm converting to NG this coming 2014 spring. I'm trending about $3500.00/yr in oil heating using a Weil Mclain WTGO-3 boiler & Carlin EZPRO burner. My range is electric, but I will convert this as well as the range makes up a large % of electrical consumption in any household that cooks more often than not. I'm wondering if your NG costs included converting a range too.