Oil or Gas in Gravity Hot Water Heating?

Steamhead

the new one will have a circulator, since boilers aren't being made for gravity anymore. If the circulator is properly sized- and most aren't, they're oversized- it will move the water about as fast as the gravity boiler would when it's running at maximum temp.

A properly-sized boiler is a properly-sized boiler, regardless of what fuel you use. That said, oil still has several advantages: In many areas it's cheaper per BTU than gas, it won't explode the way gas can (but natural gas is still pretty safe- propane is another story) and most importantly, you can choose your supplier. True, there is token competition with gas, but oil is totally competitive.

Burnham has introduced the MPO and Weil-McLain the Ultra Oil, both of which have taken American oil-fired cast-iron hot-water boilers to the next level. Dynatherm steel boilers are also pretty efficient. There are those who will argue that German brands like Buderus and Viessman are better, but I wonder if they're worth the added expense. Anyway, with equipment like this available, I'd stay with oil.

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Tony_21

Oil or Gas in Gravity Hot Water Heating?

I have an old gravity hot water system, which is currently fed by an oil- burning converted coal burner. I'm looking to replace it, and an acquaintence said it would not make sense to switch to gas since much more fuel would be needed to heat the amount of water used for the system (oil burning at a hotter temperature). Anyone have any experience with this?