Utica MCB200HID Efficiency

MrBob

Greetings,
We inherited this boiler when we bought our house. Can anyone help me figure out how (in)efficient it is?
We have a 3500 ft rancher in Maryland which is heated with a combination of baseboard, radiators and a recent retrofit of PEX under the main living area floors.
Thanks.

Jamie Hall

Rated at 82%. They're a very good efficient boiler. Not as efficient as some of the latest modulating/condensing boilers -- but a lot easier to maintain and keep running right.

Be sure you get someone out at least yearly to clean and tune it up, though.

Zman

The manufacturer is stating 83.9%. The DOE combustion efficiency is indicating 82.5%.
The IBR is 71.5%, I believe that includes all losses including standby, jacket and piping.
To complicate things a bit more, it is way oversized for you home which wastes more energy.

For comparison purposes, your real efficiency is probably in the 73%-76% range. A new properly sized mod/con boiler would be around 88% efficient.

Steamhead

@Zman - yeah, but you'll buy two or more mod/cons by the time that boiler would bite the dust.

@MrBob , what kind of aquastat relay (main control, located at the right rear, below where the hot water leaves the boiler) is on that boiler? If it's the Honeywell unit, it would be worth upgrading to a HydroStat or AquaSmart unit to better manage its energy usage and add low-water cutoff capability. Current boilers in this model series come with the HydroStat.

And, the stack damper needs to be operating properly to keep the boiler from cooling down too fast after it shuts off.

Where in MD are you located? We're in Baltimore and stock both HydroStats and replacement stack damper parts.