25 Year Old Hydro Therm - Proactive Replacement??

ajw222

watermover said:

I'm a big fan of Lochivars (assuming it's hot water and not steam). You have a decent sized home and can do a modular boiler (2 communicating boilers). They get a 10:1 turn down ratio by themselves, but two get a 20:1 turndown. They also get equal run times in lead lag (taking turns). Not a big fan of Weil McLain since they moved to rubber o-rings on the sectionals (garbage).

Yes, it is hot water baseboard.

I looked at the Lochivar website and am confused with all their different models.

If I do 2 communicating boilers for 250K BTU which of their models would be appropriate?

ajw222

JoeEngineer said:

keep it, locate and fix the source of the CO. I have seen boilers, with no more maintenance than oiling the circulators annually, on 60 yrs still going strong; yours should be good for at least that!

Joe, I will let you know when the boiler gets to 60 that you were correct.

ajw222

BennyV said:

It sounds like you may be able to keep the existing boiler. But if you get a new boiler, it should be a 95% efficient mod/con. No one should be selling/quoting old cast iron designs in the year 2022.

Are the Weil McLain CGA-7 or Utica UH15BK old cast iron designs?

BennyV said:

With baseboard heat and outdoor reset, ...

What is outdoor reset?

BennyV said:

You need to have a heat loss calc done, and if it hasn't already been done, an energy audit and insulation upgrades would be the first step. From there, getting a boiler with a high TDR should pretty much eliminate cycling except in the warmest part of the shoulder season.

What type of contractor do I look for to do that?

So far no HVAC contractor has offered that.

Ifollowinstructions

Sounds like more sales men in this blog than heat guys. Outdoor reset with baseboard heat, if you live in Florida that will work just fine, in the real world when it hits 5 degrees out you'll be freezing; calling the installer who will drive over & disconnect the outdoor reset, which will solve the issue right away. If you spend $20,000 on high efficient low temp baseboard it will work just fine. A good cast iron boiler runs at 84% GUARANTEED all the time lasts 30 years plus, Is it really good for the environment with the heat tech driving back and forward in his V8 truck repairing high efficiency boilers? that last 10-12 years, after several thousand in repairs & maintenance. Most installers don't do maintenance or repairs, so they never know. It all depends on who you ask. Sales-repair-maintenace-installers.

JoeEngineer

you hit the nail on the head!!!