Peerless Oil-FiredTankless Questions

Robert O'Brien

assuming you mean an Indirect water heater. They'll give you all the hotewater you need more efficiently than a coil

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Adam Rice

Peerless Oil-FiredTankless Questions

Hi All,

My house was built around 1992 and we have an oil-fired Peerless tankless water boiler. Recently, both the throughput and the average temperature have dropped significantly, to the point that my wife and I felt it needed to be addressed.

I had the local oil company come out and take a look at it, and the best they could tell me was that the tankless coil had likely become coated with mineral deposits over time, to the point that the mineral deposits were stopping the heat transfer to the water itself. He told me that the options were to either replace the heating coil within the system, for $700, or install a Superstor water tank as a large hot water storage device, for $1800. I really like the idea of the storage tank (for heating the home, as well as for the resale value of the home), but $1800 seems a bit on the high side, esp. when the tanks can go for less than $1000. In addition, without replacing the heating coil for the tankless heater, how will the water in the tank get up to temperature to begin with? If the systems co-exist, does the tankless heater provide hot water to the tank, or will the tank itself be in charge of bring the water up to temperature?

The technician also told me that I needed to replace the external vent on the tankless boiler, as it is several years old and there is some rot around the external enclosure that indicates it needs replacement. I just bought my house last fall, but have noticed that several neighbors have what look like small chimney vents that span the height of their entire houses. I am curious what the difference is with those and the one that I have (which juts out just above the foundation and vents downward towards the ground. The only thing that I do know is that to replace the vent that I have now with a new, identical one will cost about $800, and if I'm going to be spending that kind of money, I would like to know if it's exponentially more expensive to install one of these chimney-like devices I've seen, and what the benefits (or drawbacks) might be.

Any suggestions, etc. would be gladly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Adam Rice

maine rick

one will the boiler go cold start?
thats a one pass boiler,three pass better.
you need more then just a superstore tank, how about a control,circulator,piping,wireing,labor.all that cost money.

Leo

Cost and tanks

I'm willing to be the cost of the tank (we don't speak price here)includes piping, controls, wiring, and labor. The tank is a better way to go over the coil. A chimney verses a power venter is also less maintenance over the long run. I don't like cold start because boilers will scale up, if you do go this route MAKE SURE you get your system serviced annually.

Leo

Adam Rice

So...

What I'm hearing is that the price I was quoted may not be so out of the ordinary. If I'm concerned with performance and maintenance over the long term, it sounds like I should go with the indirect Superstor tank as well as the chimney.

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

Unknown

Adam

Is the Superstor the company is recommending just a storage tank or is it an indirect heater ?

I have a Peerless with a coil myself and switched to a 30 gal. indirect before the winter started ( and connected a simple outdoor reset control ) . I let the boiler cool down to around 120 , till a call for heat or hot water . It was a mild winter here , but I did wind up using about 400 gallons less fuel than last season .

Oh yeah , I forgot to mention the unlimited amount of hot water and no temp fluctuations you might get with a coil .