Carlin EZ Pro gas conversion vs a High Efficiency Combi Unit

brian11725

Hello. I live on Long Island NY. My house was built in 1964. We have oil fuel with hot water baseboard heating. The oil tank might be original, Alpha Tank Company Long Island City. It’s not leaking but it’s been recommended to replace. Rather than spend $2 grand + on a new oil tank and also about $2grand in oil delivery costs maybe I should consider switching to gas. My Peerless boiler WBV 04-150 is 20 years old but it’s in pretty good shape. Is keeping the same setup but converting the burner to gas a smart option? Either the Carlin EZ or Becket CG4001. I’m not finding many guys who do this type of install.

I read so many mixed reviews on the HE combi units. It’s hard to even gauge or rank the top one.

I’ve thought about the ductless mini split heat pump but I’m not crazy about the look plus was told I might need a backup heat source. I’d like to completely move on from oil so not sure how chilly the house would get on cold winter nights. Plus was told it could cost upwards of 15k. Seems like a lot for not the ideal solution.

Has anyone had any experience with High Temperature air to water heat pumps? Is that a viable option in this climate?

I do have solar. I have banked about 1500 kWh this past year. I researched an electric boiler the thermo 2000 but it seemed even with overproducing solar it would really use up a lot of electricity and at .10 a kWh it didn’t seem like a good option.

Thanks.

Jamie Hall

Step one in your area: check with your gas supplier to see if switching to gas is even an option. It may not be -- a good chunk of the New York metro area has a moratorium going on new gas hookups, or even increased gas usage.

That said, I personally am not a fan of combi units, no matter who makes them. Once in a while you do run into a situation where a unit which is big enough to handle the hot water load isn't wildly oversize for the heating load, but that's not common. A much better bet, in my humble opinion, is a boiler with an indirect hot water heater. That option can be had -- easily -- in either gas (if you can get a supply) or oil.

If the oil company -- or whoever inspected your tank -- says it must be replaced, it probably does. That doesn't mean the boiler needs to be, though, and if the boiler is still working well (you do have it thoroughly cleaned and combustion adjusted every year, don't you?) keep it going.

Electric boilers do have their points. Economy isn't one of them, either in operation or installation. You don't mention the firing rate, but it is probably right around 100,000 BTUh. That is somewhere around 30 KW, or -- at 240 volts -- 125 amps. That almost certainly means a new 200 amp service entrance on top of the cost of the boiler -- and then you have to run it. Your banked solar credit would run it for all of about 2 days.

GW

I don’t like combination boilers, trouble down the road. Some plumbing heating guys love them and I don’t know why, maybe they can’t the extra hour or two and set up a tank, don’t know

Conversion burner- sure, as long as your installer will around to service it, not tons of guys want to touch a gas gun.