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Better to shut down oil boiler for summer or keep it hot?

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Chester
Chester Member Posts: 83
in Oil Heating
My son just bought a home in the northeast that has a 1990s vintage 100K Burnham hot water boiler with an internal coil for DHW. He has relatively limited DHW needs so I'm thinking about installing a standalone tank. But I'm also wondering if it might be better to just leave the thing alone (other than a good cleaning) since it's used to staying hot all year. All else being equal, what's the best way to extend the lifespan of this old-ish beast as long as possible?

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  • GreenGene
    GreenGene Member Posts: 290
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    Tough call, they can start rusting depending on the basement, there are many cold start boilers that do just fine though.

    Best thing is to install an indirect w/h like a Superstor and an outdoor reset control, this way the boiler is more efficient, you get tons of hot water and the boiler gets used so it lasts.
    Zman
  • Condoman
    Condoman Member Posts: 90
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    And no critters build a nest in the chimney.

    I have the MS-40 and ODR and use very little oil during the non-heating season. Plus it is cleaned annually.
    GreenGene
  • george_42
    george_42 Member Posts: 121
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    years ago I put a clock on my boiler that had a 1gal nozzle and found the it used about 1 gal of oil every day to maintain temp and produce domestic hot water with coil. So whatever you pay for oil per gal is equal to what you pay in the summer per day.
    JimIfert
  • lchmb
    lchmb Member Posts: 2,997
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    could put an indirect in and set the low temp on the boiler to 135...that way when there's a call for HW it cranks up to 180 and when not needed idles at a lower temp...
  • Chester
    Chester Member Posts: 83
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    I like the idea of an indirect since but I'm leaning toward a heat pump water heater. I can get a 50 gallon GE Geospring on sale at Lowes for around $900 this week and can then capture $500 in state and federal rebates and tax credits. During the winter I'll basically be capturing standby heat loss off the boiler and during the summer it'll help cut some of the humidity in the basement.
  • GreenGene
    GreenGene Member Posts: 290
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    Just remember with a heat pump w/h you don't get more hot water than electric, it's just cheaper to run.

    50 gal = 50 gal

    my 20 gal superstor will give me over 140 gph of hot water

    HPWH's are ok for 1-2 people.
  • mikedo
    mikedo Member Posts: 174
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    if its a burnham i would leave it hot they had a lot of trouble with them cracking and leaking. thats why i won't install them anymore. kinda embarrassing when you have to replace a cast iron boiler you put in 12 years ago and it costs your customer a lot of money. or i guess former customer

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