Real Life Heat Loss Analysis by Observation??

WalnutFarmer

A month or so ago, you all helped me educate myself on how to do a quasi Manual J heat loss in preparation for my conversion to gas. Now I've learned that the gas company is putting our project on hold until spring due to some environmental questions they need to address.

Since I now have a heating season between now and the conversion and since I know calculated heat loss is an educated guess, is there any way for me to evaluate actual heat loss by monitoring my oil burner activity over the winter months?

System is hydronic baseboard with Weil McClain oil burner and boiler with hot water coil.

Thanks for your continued help!

Leon82

Yes.
You need an average temperature for a set amount of days And your actual fuel used to start. The rest is math which I've seen it done here and elsewhere. So I think you need to top off the oil tank run it for the month And re top off counting exactly how many gallons used

Dave H_2

Take a look here, here is a way to find the actual fuel usage and you don't even need to wait for this coming heating season.

mechanical-hub.com/sites/hydronics/heat-loss-calculation-on-every-residential-boiler-replacement/

gschallert

I can vouch for the above method coming close to a detailed manual j on our house. I did the math method using actual fuel consumption and it came within 2-3K of the Manual J report from the energy audit company we hired. Seems like a viable alternative as long as things like supplemental heating are factored in.

njtommy

I did a manual J and heat loss by useage its with in 5k btus of each other.

WalnutFarmer

Thanks all. Will give it a try.