New Natural Gas Service in 6 - 8 weeks

kgk14

I am average joe homeowner. My neighbors and I finally secured an agreement with gas company to extend a line on our street. I need to covert from an old 'thankless tankless' oil boiler to a good value reliable natural gas system for heat and hot water and seek recommendations from the pros. My heat loss is about 81000 btu for a 2 story colonial and full basement with about 2700 square feet. The house has 143' of mostly cast iron Base Ray. My hot water needs are for two adults two kids and running laundry, dishwasher, 30 gallon bath tub and shower. I also like to shave with trickling hot water. If you were doing this job, what boilers-hot water systems would you install?

jonny88

this should be interesting

All depends on budget.I lost a lot of work in these situations.Your neighbors will probably get a lot of quotes and from experience they will probably get an option to go with the series 2 Burnham with 50 gallon water heater,big rebate from Nat grid andof course there is a reason for that or they will get an es2 with alliance indirect,more money but add outdoor reset and it works pretty good..In my house I put in a IBC condensing boiler SL 115 with indirect.Fuel savings are 65-70 % from my old oil work horse.Many great boilers,pick the right installer.

kgk14

Regarding contractors

What are the top criteria you would use selecting an installer? All gas installers in my state (NH) need a license, not so for oil boilers. Natural gas is uncommon in my area outside of the downtown area so most HVAC contractors do a majority of work on oil systems. A couple of vendors have suggested either Bosch/buderus or System 2000. For me I expect to sell house in five years so a solid efficient system is preferable to top of the line. Any other recommendations?

Rich_49

Short sighted

A recent survey of potential homebuyers actually performed by realtors stated that 9/10 were looking for efficiency . Within the 5 year time frame you are citing many things WILL become mainstream and codes and requirements will be adopted . In the meantime you will enjoy lower monthly bills and when you sell your house it will be much easier when you can show real fuel bills and have a real quality system .

  When qualifying contractors you should consider the following :

MUST offer to perform a room by room heat loss calculation . In your case will have to include measuring your existing baseboard to determine capability to utilize outdoor reset. Existing length should NOT be used to determine boiler size. If not this is not your contractor .

MUST be familiar with whatever product he is installing and it's capabilities .  Easy enough to verify , here .

Paul48

Important "MUST"

The boiler "MUST" be installed to factory specification per the I&O manual. That one fact provides you with some power. Avoid contractors that give you the "fast shuffle". They'll claim, they really don't have time to discuss the details with you. They are too busy installing your system properly. The opposite is probably true. They'll leave you with a hacked up mess, and an unopened I&O manual packet.

kcopp

Im in the seacoast....

If you like send me a message and I can look at your situation and give you some options.

kcopp

jonny88

You got lucky

If you want advice here bring KCOPP to your house.End of story .Good luck

kgk14

Reached out

to kcopp and waiting to hear from him.



I used the Slant Fin heat loss calculator to get a room by room calculation and a whole house. Any comments, pro con, on it?



A trusted and reasonable contractor is rarity, hope it happens. Will share info with neighbors who are helping to copay the cost of the gas line extension.