Monitor FCX oil fired condenser?

Ken_8

But would use nothing but; in my new construction in VT.

Oil @ $40+ a barrel now - the extra 10% efficiency will pay the extra grand that sucker costs within two years.

I hear the unit is bulletproof. If it's as good as the MZ gas jobbie (which I do have experience with), it will be a good investment from both vanatage points of better efficiency and ease of servicing.

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Unknown

Anyone put these in?

I'm just wondering how many of these units are out there? Any feedback on this unit?

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Constantin

Started the same topic over at OilTechTalk

Which you can read here. The consensus was that though no-one had direct experience with the FCX, that condensing oil appliances were/are a bad thing waiting to happen.

I was excited by the FCX simply because it had a high efficiency and allowed side venting. However, side venting can apparently be a problem due to smell (hello sulfur), and the higher efficiency comes at a premium cost. On the other hand, having 2 FCX's would allow 2 stage control and hence a pretty close match to the load (seeing that modulating oil burners are not yet available in the US residential market).

Sulfur appears to be the main reason that condensing oil appliances have not found wider distribution in NA (they are available in the EU). For example, from what I can tell, Viessmann creates the condensing VitolaPlus simply by slapping on a secondary HX in the back (well, there is more to it, I'm sure, but I have never seen one up close).

For heating oil, the maximum allowable contamination levels for sulfur are at 3,000 PPM... They appear to be slated to drop to 500PPM in the future. Meanwhile, on-road use Diesel is at 500PPM today and slated to drop to 15PPM (!!!) Thus, in todays NA environment, a condensing oil heating appliance may require some very careful secondary HX engineering (and good materials) to withstand the effects that so much sulfur in the fuel can have.

Lastly, the question of payoff was brought up... condensing oil appliances sell at a premium that may be hard to recover when additional maintenance, etc. is thrown in.

DaveGateway

Add it up

Costs twice as much as a good 3 pass oil fired boiler and you probably need 2 of them. For the price of one FCX you could get a nice Buderus or Viesmann boiler with indirect and control package.

Constantin

Yup,

That's precisely why I'm sticking to a non-condensing oil boiler for now. A Buderus, Burnham, Crown, or Viessmann should do the trick nicely. Besides, a big water jacket gives enough thermal mass to the system to make it efficient even when the demanded load is low.

Unknown

I'm going to have a lookie at this FCX ,,,

tomorrow at the NAOSHM show in CT. Tom Stayer will be showing off this little beauty to the oil trade the next couple of days. If it's anything like the amazing MZ mini boiler, I'll take two:-)

Still trolling for ANYONE who has actually installed one of these????


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