Boiler decision made......Now comes the hard part........

J.C.A._3

Howard's offerings.Click and copy the addy at the bottom of his reply to me. I think you'll like it. (Hey Steve Ebels...You'll LOVE it!)

Thanks Howard. You've fortunately tread upon a group that discusses both heating AND music amongst ourselves...quite a bit...and I hope everyone goes to check out your offering.

W.W. I bet you'll like it! Chris

Howard Emerson

Boiler decision made............Now the hard part.

Hello,
This is an edit:
At some point in time, Tennis great, and bad-boy, Jimmy Connor's was asked "Who would you want playing for you if your life was on the line?"

"John McEnroe", he said. With that in mind...........

We live in Huntington Station, NY and are about ready to purchase a new hot water/baseboard, heating system.

We're replacing an older Blue Ray III tankless, and after some kind replys to posts I've made, I think we're going to get ourselves a Biasi B-4 or 5, Riello burner, SuperStor and some good outdoor controls.

A friend has also recently gone done the Biasi-Riello on a hot air system, and seems very satisfied.

There are some other issues that I think need to be addressed, such as the fact that most of the radiators in our home are convectors on a Mono-Flo system. But there's been renovations with added baseboard and I've also had a couple of Hide-A-Vectors installed as well, so we'll need to have water-flow management assessed as well.

We're trying to cut down on oil consumption, as we used 1230 gallons in 2005.

We have thermopane windows and R-30 in the attic, so we're not too archaic in that respect.

Although I'll give my oil supplier a chance to bid my system, I'm not really as concerned with the final price as I am with: Will he have the knowledge to maintain this particular system CORRECTLY AND EFFICIENTLY.

And frankly: Will he really care about selling me a system that makes him less money long term:-]

His workers who do the yearly tune up are very dependable, and are nice enough, but I'm under the impression that todays Good Systems are not that simple as they used to be.

Sorry for being so long winded.......I hope someone will have an interest in this.

If you, as a boilerman, couldn't do your own install, which tech would you trust to do it right because they just can't help doing any other way?

Best regards,
Howard Emerson
hmemerson@aol.com

David Sutton_6

i was

i think its great that you are taking a active intrest in your heating needs...David

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Ragu_5

Howard...

Good for you! You've taken an interest in your heating system AND you've decided to have it changed out before the dead of winter.

You already have some above average stuff in your home; convectors and monoflos are way above average. Dan has great monoflo information under "Heating Q&A" on the masthead. Please read "Diverter Tee Systems".

Yup, you have to find the right people to put in the new stuff. Anybody in your area listed under "Find A Professional"? The oil company may come through for you, but I would also check out a couple of independent heating contractors; they tend to be more progressive and better skilled, in my experience.

The Biasi/Riello combo is affordable, of decent quality and basically trouble free. Add a good indirect water heater, proper piping and controls. Remember: it all starts with a Heat Loss Calculation. ALWAYS! Good luck.

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J.C.A._3

Howard,

Congratulations ! You've stumbled upon a well known and understood cunundrum....Do I trust the oil company or go with someone else? Most full service oil companies, as a rule...want to see you as much as you want to see them, so they will try to give you the boiler you want, and the drop in sales of their liquid gold will be second fiddle.They , for the most part would also like to be told that you are installing a new system IF you don't use them for it.

My advice would be to let them know, if they aren't the installer...and have them come out when the system gets fired up for testing. Let the installer explain the fine points to the guys who will be servicing the system after the warranty runs out.(If they don't know, they can't study and attempt to understand it unless they are fed the information!) It makes sense to me to do it this way. Best of luck! Chris

Howard Emerson

Hi Jack,

Yes, I started reading exactly that part of Dan's on diverter-T's and stuff...I had no idea about the logic of it all. I only figured that it was like the Perimeter Highway around Atlanta: You can get off, you can get on, you can go around in a circle:-)

Truth be told, I was almost sold (via reading the web site only) on a System 2000 by Energy Kinetics, but when the salesman didn't have any 3rd party testing data to send me, I got a little nervous.

At $7000, it's a sizable outlay, but it 'promises' to cut my 1230 gal/yr to 750..........The math says I'd be a moron not to do it, but if it seems to good to be true.....

Thanks for the information, insight, etc!

Best,
Howard

Howard Emerson

Hi Chris,
Thanks for letting me know I'm heading in the right direction.

I certainly will let my oil company know regardless of who does the install, and having the guys come for the fire-up would be a smart thing if it can be done.

We've been with them since our last home over 11 years ago, so I'm inclined to be loyal..........to a point. They won't lock prices. We do belong to NYPIRG and through them we pay anywhere from 10 to 25 cents less per gallon than there non-NYPIRG customers, but lately I've had my doubts.

If I'm not mistaken there are companies out there who do service contracts only. If this is true, and I could buy my oil from the 'spot sellers', then that's a consideration, I suppose.

Thanks again, Chris!

HE...........PS: This is what I do under normal circumstances when not woodworking or gardening.
http://www.howardemerson.com/

S Ebels

Chris

After listening to that I'm inclined to offer free installation of Howard's boiler if he picks that Gibson (I think) while I play with the pipes. I'd probably even drag the Fender bass along with so we could do a little pickin' and grinnin' after the job was done!

Nice stuff Howard! Just plain old smooth pickin and making a guitar talk the way it wants to.

Howard Emerson

Hi Steve, Hi Chris,
Glad you enjoy my music.....

You guys will probably be amused to know that the Gibson L-5 I'm pictured playing was built in the heyday of Steam Boilers.....1927!!

I used to own a 1960 Fender Jazz Bass with the concentric knobs, Steve!

Thanks again!

HE

J.C.A._3

Howard....

I told you this would happen.

GOOD things happen here on The Wall...

Thanks Dan!

S Ebels

Fenders

Mine is a 66 (CBS era) that I bought used when I was 13. One of the original pickup's gave out a couple years ago and I replaced it with a DiMarzzio (sp?). It really doesn't match the stock pick up too well so one of these days I'll try to find an original to match. I also have a US made Strat that I have set up to play stock or "hot" for blues. My acoustic is an Alvarez Yairi model that I had the bridge and internal bracing completely redone. Sounds close to a Martin D-28.....just a tad less bass but it rings pretty nice. Your Gibby has a very nice tone and stays nice and true as you go up the scale. There's a guy in these parts that has an S-400 that his grandad bought off a destitute factory worker during the Depression. It has the same rrrrrrrring to it as yours with more bass. I've been trying to buy it off him for years but still no deal. Maybe if he needs a new boiler some day........... a very expensive boiler.

Thanks for the good music! Might have to pick up a CD or two.