Refreshing the boiler room

BrianPhilly

Hi all,

I'm a mechanical engineer but new to this site and home boilers - I am doing some research into replacing the very old LAARS mini-therm (continuous pilot JV 160k) that's in the house I purchased. I've put a 3 winters on the JV160 and it's certainly been a learning experience, having moved some of the baseboards, hunted down and fixed leaks, drained/refilled/bled the system, cut in some bypass piping. It's actually working quite well recently, but the rennovations on the other 1 BR apartment (duplex building, 1600 sf total) and I would like the tennants to have some sort of thermost.

Currently there are 3 x 1/2" circuits, two about 60 feet and the third about 100 feet ,much of which is finned baseboards. ( The B&G100 pump seems to be far too much pump for what I've got here), and the boiler is definitely oversized. It's currently operating around the "minimum input 62,000 BTU" on the nameplate, about a 60% turndown, which still bounces off the high temp limit (~190F) on occasion, colder nights with the apartment zone valved off.

Between the ancient (70s?) boiler that used to pop and bang on a regular basis until I put in the bypass piping, and the 1990's Bradford white water heater, I know this stuff is on borrowed time, and if i'm going to be putting in zone valves and possibly a new pump system, it only seems logical to consider going with a new boiler too. A direct-replacement 85% mini therm with induced draft is rather affordable and could be sized a bit more reasonably, but I can't help but eye the Mascot series on their website and imagine saving some money, modernizing the boiler room, and eliminating that old HWH in one foul swoop.

1) Mascot FT is a great price point, I like the small indirect tank idea, maybe a little big @ 140k but it modulates 5:1. Can't find a single review, good or bad. Reccomendations? Should I just stick with what's there?

2) I'm wary of the controls on these things. I've watched my father battle unsucessfully and give up on a 1-year-old Bradford White HWH due to a controls bug. Should I be?

3)Boiler room is in the dead-center of the lowermost floor, with finished living space on 3 sides and garage on the 4th. Combustion air comes from the house (louvered door and wall), natural draft up a chimney. I can't imagine a good way to direct vent except maybe get combustion air from the attic and run a 2" vent up the chimney(about 25' total) ?

4) Also, I'm just curious, why might LAARS reviews be so terrible? The one down there now seems like a good machine. I'm drawn to Bradford/Laars mostly becuase that's what I have now, and live pretty close to Bradford HQ in Ambler, PA, but my loyalty ends there.
https://www.furnacecompare.com/boilers/laars/reviews/

BrianPhilly

What's a thread without pictures...

Rich_49

How many baths is the house ? What is the DHW demand like

Gordy

I would opt for a htp uft series, or lochinvar khn series 10:1 tdr.

BrianPhilly

DHW is 2.5 baths. I could imagine 2 people showering at once. I'm trying to sell myself on modernizing everything here, but concerned about reliability, venting and condensation issues. I could easily seal up the boiler room and draw combusition air from the garage (which isn't particularly well sealed) while keeping natural or induced draft..what do I really have to gain?