Will a Retrofit mean lower nat. gas bill?

Tara

If I have an old Raypack AT installed around 1983 probably oversized at 130K BTU and I install a 75K BTU boiler with up to 85% AFUE, should I notice a difference in my gas bills?

Thanks,
T

Ed_26

upgrade

Why would you only go 85%??? Gas prices will not go down in the long term. Buy the best you can afford (even if you can't) it will pay you back.

Brad White_129

Tara-

Ed is right, buy the most efficient boiler you can for the long haul. I take that tack because, well, don't we all as optimistic humans expect to be around for the long haul?



More to your question (and forgive the Mantra), may we assume that the new boiler is sized to a calculated heat loss? (Another thread, I know!)

If as you say, the old boiler was 130K and the new one is 75K (and meets the load even if it still exceeds it), yes, you will use less fuel. It will cycle less hence not incur losses of warm-up and cool-down every time.

With a good calculated heat loss done, you may well fine tune this down a size. If you are using this to make domestic hot water with an indirect, that may dictate the size.

Buying a ModCon (modulating condensing) boiler is better yet and IMHO essential if you are using it to also make domestic hot water. The modulating fire goes a long way to giving you the exact boiler you need at any given time. Purr like a kitten for hours rather than roar like a lion twice an hour...

Difference in your gas bills? Depends on how well you USE the system. TRV's on radiators? Great. Deep outdoor reset? Even better.

Absent any of the nicer refinements you should see conservatively 15% savings (SWAG). With system-side refinements there is testimony to 30%, 40% or more.

Will your gas bills go down? Your usage will. Costs of course vary, so look at and compare therms only.

My $0.02 anyway!

Cheers-

Brad

Tara

lower gas bills and Trinity Ti boiler

Brad and Ed,

All the contractors automatically quoted us for mid-efficiency boilers. I guess there's not enough demand and homeowner $$ for high efficiency boilers which is too bad for the environment.

I posted another thread about the heat loss calcs. Contractors just don't offer to do it where I am in Canada which makes me wonder about the differences in service/knowledge between here and the States.

The reason I asked my question was that I got 2 different answers to this question from different contractors. One told me a mid effiency boiler won't reduce my bills much over the old boiler we have. Another said it would.

What are TRVs?

Also, I was quoted on a Trinity Ti but was told they are only 10-12 years on the market. It seems like its a lot more complex than the mid-efficiency boilers. Are mod-cons more apt to require service/repairs as a result?

Thanks,
Tara