Making Heating System use less oil

TylerA

I own a 2900 square foot home that is around 35 years old. The windows and insulation is good. Our heating was indicated to be replaced in 2003. It is a system that has 8 inch radiators running along the entire external walls of the house. I am assuming that our hot water supply is provided by the heating system in one unit because we don't have a hot water heater tank. It says Burnam on the front but the original label has seen better days and can not ready the details about the unit. With the cost of oil going sky high, what can we do about making this unit more efficient? The energy star tag on it says it is 86% efficient, so I am thinking it should not be that bad. We have it serviced every year and told the unit should last another 20 or 30 years. The house came with a gas fireplace as well. Should we run the natural gas fireplace to heat the home? I am told that is not too efficient either. What do the independent professionals think that do not have a profit motive.

SWEI

if you have natural gas service

I'd convert the boiler to NG.



Where are you located?

TylerA

You can do that?

We are in Medfield, MA. The heating unit is in the same room as where the gas meter is located. What is involved with doing that?

SWEI

definitely

Believe it or not, your end result will probably be more efficient and longer lasting than you would typically get from a new gas boiler.  The reason has to do with the way the heat exchanger is designed, which loses less heat to the surroundings and reduces the temperature differential between the hot and cold parts of the boiler.  You can buy gas fired boilers like this new, but they are not common in residential sizes.



What they will do is remove your oil burner, clean the boiler, and install something like this http://www.carlincombustion.com/products/ezgburn.htm in its place.  There will also be a new draft control and possibly a chimney liner depending on what they did when your boiler was installed.



If you re-post in the 'Gas Heating' section, Tim McElwain can refer you to someone properly trained in conversion burners.



Good luck!

John@Reliable_10

Need more information ..............

Sorry real easy to say convert to gas, but with out a lot more information it's a guess if you would save any money at this point. Is the system really working at it's peak now? who knows with out proper testing. Boiler sizing, heat loss, amount of baseboard, etc. There are many ways to save, outdoor reset, lower water temp's,in-direct water heater, what you need is a real pro to evaluate what you have now, to see where to go. 

heatpro02920

Find a good tech to use his eyes before you use your wallet...

I say start with getting someone out there to take a look at it, I get this service call all the time, "Im using too much oil" ... Normally new customers... I start with a visual inspection which is doesn't cost much, and I give the customer my opinion and a few options that coincide with their budget and expected savings... I inspect their equipment house and energy bill.



Next step would be an efficiency test if the boiler is clean, if not clean then a tune up and service {which includes eff test}.... Next step would be to perform an energy audit and figure out the buildings heat loss... Im sure you can find someone local to do the same...It makes sense to spend a couple bucks because of the size of your home, at nearly 3000 sq you can spend a lot of money on heat in a short amount of time...



But anyway, your boiler isn't very old if replaced in 03 so its a shame to get rid of it before its time, you need to factor this in...



last summer I went to a new customers home that wanted to switch to gas, they only owned the home for a year, and heated with the oil system all last season and did not like the cost... Well their boiler was only about 3 years old Buderus triple pass and for hot water they had a really old aero direct fired tank {oil}.... The boiler had a becket AFG Which is the first time I seen one in a buderus boiler {normally carlin or riello}, they paid to have the boiler cleaned twice since they bought the home, and I attribute this to the afg lack of static pressure.



AnywayIll shorten this up for you, they didnt have Natural gas available, but did have propane at the property already... I tossed the direct fired tank, installed a rinnai 96% tankless {LP}, installed the correct Riello Burner, changed the circs to delta T and control to outdoor reset Honeywell {boiler had no LWCO so it was 2 birds}.... So now the boiler isnt running all summer just to make hot water, the new burner running correctly with a few simple control changes, and some pipe insulation, they are very happy {they waited for a couple cold months before they left good news on angies list}, seems they are saving around 50%... But if I remember correctly their bill was around $3000 for the parts and work I did...



So the moral of the story is get someone out there to take a look at whats already there, you may be able to use what you have, just a little different and save money... Now if your boiler was in disrepair and need to be changed it makes sense to go ahead and change it with something that will save you money, but I see too many people, spend $10K on a new boiler that is going to save them 10% per year and only last 20 years, so if you do the math.. say it costs you $2000 a year to heat your home, you save 10% its $200 per year for 20 years its $4K, but it cost you $10K so you lost $6.... I know there are tons of ways to look at this and you can twist the numbers to do what ever you want, but most of the time upgrading equipment that is still in working order with 30 years of life left in it, doesnt save you money...

SWEI

agreed, but

if NG is available, the cost delta per BTU is hard to ignore (or overcome, for that matter.)

heatpro02920

very true

Some of the most efficient systems I have ever installed {besides geo} are NG fueled with heat pumps for the mild load days... If he gets someone out there that is honest and smart, they should sit down and do all the math, to make sure what ever system he goes with saves in the end.... spending $5K to save $2K over the life of the system still loses $3K....



Definitely need more info before I can give you better advice on which way to go, like I said if your boiler was in need of change that is a no brainer, NG unit of some sort with all the latest bells and whistles you can afford...



Kind of like buying a hybrid car and throwing away your V8 car with 25K miles on it, will you save what you lost before you started? I know this is much different, cars have resale value, and you dont need to pay for them to be installed and removed...

SWEI

I was proposing a rather simple change

replacing an oil burner with a gas gun, keeping the existing wet-base boiler.



As a first step.