Gas Hot Water Boiler v. Gas Boiler

irishwitch

What is the difference between a boiler such as Weil-McLaine Cga -6 gas hot water boiler and a Burnham Gas Fire Boiler Series X-2? I have an existing Weil-McLaine gas boiler Gold and wanted to know the difference.

GroundUp

One is a Weil-McLain and one is a Burnham. What's the difference between a Chevy truck and a Ford truck? Loaded question right? Same rule applies here. They're both gas fired hot water boilers with cast iron exchangers and would perform the same job.

irishwitch

Are all boilers gas hot water? Sorry, but I know nothing about this stuff and someone suggested that they perform both your heat and hot water. I am only looking for a new system to heat 2 zones in the house.

Jamie Hall

irishwitch said:

Are all boilers gas hot water? Sorry, but I know nothing about this stuff and someone suggested that they perform both your heat and hot water. I am only looking for a new system to heat 2 zones in the house.

Nope. Some are oil fired. Some are straight electric.

Some heat water for hot water heating (which it sounds as though you have). Some boil water for steam heating.

Some have two separate sets of heat exchangers; one side heats water for heating, the other heats your domestic hot water. Those are called "combis". Some boilers for hot water heating also heat water from domestic hot water through internal heating coils (getting rare). Some heating systems use the heating boiler to heat hot water in a separate storage tank. That's called indirect hot water.

I suspect what you are looking for is a gas fired boiler for hot water heating. Plain and simple.

Steamhead

@irishwitch , if you tell us where you're located, we may know someone near you who can be more specific. Both are good boilers, but the quality of the installation matters just as much.