I need to replace an oil water heater, please help

paintballnsk

Hi,

I have a hot water baseboard heated house. My domestic hot water and baseboard are heated through a tankless 120,000 btu heater that feeds to a 40 gallon holding tank. It has died and I need to replace it this week.

My contractor recommended switching to LP and getting a combi unit. I'm looking at the Utica Boilers CCB-150.

The switch from oil to propane shouldn't be a big deal. The price for the oil heater to replace is going to be fairly comparable to switching to the LP Utica Boilers unit.

Do you have any recommendations?

Priority is efficiency in the long run. Is it more efficient to use an on demand combi heater, or is it more efficient to keep a 40 gallon holding tank warm? Someone told me that if the combi is running baseboard it's going to run constantly in the winter, but that doesn't sound right. Right now our thermostats only fire up every couple hours at the most. It's a pretty efficient and well insulated house.

Thanks,
Nick

Steamhead

First question: Is the domestic water separated from the water in the baseboards?

paintballnsk

Yes. There's relays for 3 zones, one of which I usually set to like 50deg as they are separated from the main house and I only turn them on when I'm out there in the winter. The other two zones seem to only run every couple hours in the winter.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Depends on you domestic hot water usage. Combi is fine if your DHW needs are small to moderate. Sounds like the boiler water is also DHW to me

billtwocase

What boiler do you currently have?

j a_2

First off what I think you have is a oil fired boiler that heats the house,, then u have an aqua boaster piped to a heating coil in your boiler…Secondly my opinion is this, no do not go to propane….Thirdly, how big is your house to have a 140,000 BTU boiler,hopefully big….If you stick with oil look a nice peerless boiler with an ever hot aqua boaster….If you ever gat nat. gas it is convertible….If you are tired of running a hot boiler all summer to supply your domestic hot water,google G E hybrid water heaters, runs of the electricity and is assisted by a heat pump of sorts….Very very common there days, in fact I just put one in my own house….Got a nice 750.00 rebate on a unit I only payed 950.00..for…I did put a lot of them in and have yet to have a problem….This is just my opinion…Others may have even better options…Anyways feel free to post your proposal minus the pricing of course…Do not forget to make sure you or the installer does a calcuated,whole house heat loss…No need to do a room by room unless you have uneven heating...

paintballnsk

No I have one boiler. It's 120BTU. The DHW is coming off the same boiler. It's a tankless boiler that feeds into a 40 gallon holding tank. The boiler is what I need to replace. So my options are, get rid of the tank and go for a LPG combi, or just replace the boiler i have with another boiler (either oil or LPG). In my area the price/BTU for LP and oil were about the same. So at this time I don't really care which fuel I use. And the oil boiler I'm looking at is about the same price as the combi I'm looking at.

So my question is more about the general design of the two systems. At 4gpm+ I'm not worried about getting a cold shower. Do you think removing the holding tank and going to an on-demand system going to save me money in the long run?

Thanks,
Nick

j a_2

OK....How many sq. ft is ur home...How many and what kind of hot water fixtures do u have?

paintballnsk

2 full bathrooms, dishwasher, kitchen sink, heated zones add up to about 2000sqft. Again, all I really care about is being able to take 2 showers at once. As far as the baseboard heating goes, I don't mind turning the thermostats off while I shower, and I have no intention of running a dishwasher while I'm showering lol.

paintballnsk

The 150 is the only combi unit they make. So are you saying I'd be better off just replacing the boiler in the system I have and leaving everything else alone?

paintballnsk

This is the other one I was looking at: http://ecomfort.com/ncb-150000-btu-hot-water-combi-boiler-935-afue-direct-vent-93005.html

j a_2

Simply do a heat loss...put in an appropriate sized agua boaster,round about 40/ gallon. Hopefully ur installer is not the one that suggested turn off the heat when u shower....That would be a huge red flag, someone has not a clue

RobG

Can you post some pictures of the existing setup? Some of your terminology is a litte vauge

j a_2

I was going to ask for pics as well,,,,,Then the quessing game over and we can help

Charlie from wmass

The post that described the cast iron boiler with a tankless coil is most probable. The install seems to have an agenda and has convinced this person they have the perfect item for them. I am sure by this time next year they will be wondering why the switched to LP and be looking into an indirect water heater.

j a_2

I agree Charlie....

j a_2

Ok