Oil Heating/Electric Heating/Summer-Winter Hook Up?

Mike Kraft

This sounds a bit confusing......"Oil Heating/Electric Heating/Summer Winter Hook Up"I understand why your marbles are rolling.You say it has baseboards(BB) throughout.Electric heat can also be BB.Have you actually seen a boiler with your eyes?Including pipe work.If you look at the ends of each BB if its hot water BB(HWBB) you should see piping.Either copper or steel piping.

How old is the home?How big is the oil tank or tanks?Where are the tanks?Underground,garage,outside or in the basement?How big is the home?Check the boiler if there is one there for a manufacturer name,model&serial#'s and size...will say on tag"Input MBH/hr DOE ........and IBR............"

As far as Domestic hot water(DHW).......if there is an electric water heater this can always be upgraded.If its an oil fired boiler it may have a "tankless coil"to provide DHW.This maybe accompinied with a "side tank"to give the home more DHW storage.

Check for an oil companies sticker for annual inspection dates on the appliance also.Write down the info and call them for a brief history tomorrow.

Good luck,

cheese

Al_2

Oil Heating/Electric Heating/Summer Winter Hook Up

Good Morning!

I need some help in answering some questions about Oil Heating. My situation is I want to make an offer on a home and I am not familar at all with Oil Heat. The print out says. Oil Heat, Electric Heat, Hot water heat and Summer winter hook-up. It has baseboards thru out the house. What could be electric? The domestic hot water tank? I am concerned about going broke heating this home. I have heard horror stories about electric heat pumps. If some one could also tell me what summer winter hook up means I would really appreciate it. Also if the HW tank is electric would you guys recommend switching it over to oil? I really appreciate any help. We have to make an offer today and my wife loves the home and my father who would know all the answers is out of town. I really need some help and a friend of a friend told me to come here.

Thanks in advance

Al

scrook

Oil heat/electric heat/etc.

I would *guess* it is an oil fired hot water heating boiler and hot water baseboards, but an electric hot water heater tank & the realtor or owner got it mixed up in filling out the listing form. I don't know what "summer/winter hookup" is though.

If it is oil heat w/ baseboard you'll find a boiler w/ an oil burner sticking out of one side of the bottom and copper or iron pipes (maybe both) and one or more pumps and perhaps some electric operated zone valves. There also will be an oval oil tank somewhere in the celler (or maybe outside), if, instead, it is a buried tank have it removed and cleaned up fully (if/as required) by the seller *before* you buy It is also possible, if it also heats the hot water, that it will have either an intewrnal coil w/ cold and hot water connections or a seperate hot water tank w/ another pump and some plumbing to it from the boiler. If the hot water heater is electric it will be a separate tank w/ a power line to it plus the water lines -- much like a gas hot water heater but no gas line and no flue pipe. Upstairs, it the baseboards are *electric* they will likely have a thermostat in each room, and a slim heater 'tube' down the middle of the fins. If it is hot water BB the tube down the fins will be bigger, 7/8" is typical, and usually copper (sometimes plastic or iron) tube/pipe will be connected to each end. You may find one thermostat, or, likely, one for each floor of the house, but not in every room.

Look around & ask, between the seller and realtor you should be able to get the details clarified.

Attached is a picture of a typical water boiler.

Earthfire

summer winter

In my neck of the woods a summer winter hook up usually means that the house boiler makes the hot water all heating season (free? hot water) the boiler is shut down in the spring and the electric hot water heater is turned on to supply hot water until the boiler is needed again. They also probable have some electric baseboard or wall heaters in parts of the house that were either remodeled or added after the hot water heating system was installed. On a personal note : DON'T Jump at this house without taking the TIME to make a complete and thorough inspection,and understanding most of the detectable idiosincracies ( problems ) of the structure. When I was much younger and MORE foolish???? needed a place for family to live ,jumped on the first one to come along, sellers realtor lied like a rug , I didn't do my own checking and the repairs took a lot of money and helped destroy a marriage. Good Luck House Hunting . Can be stressful but rewarding