Oil is now selling for $3.16 a gallon in my area. (LINK)

[bostonbaked]

I think this link was posted here by another member and I have been following it for some time. Need to get some oil for hot water by boiler. Watching and waiting. Do you think I should pull the trigger now or wait ? http://www.newenglandoil.com/mass.htm

 

[rayttt]

personally, I think you should disable the boiler's hot water and install an electric water heater...and save on the use of oil even more

 

[bostonbaked]

personally, I think you should disable the boiler's hot water and install an electric water heater...and save on the use of oil even more

I agree but I have I not heated yet with my stove. If all goes well I will do just that. My problem is I was told if I completely shut down my older boiler I may not be able to resurrect it again. I was told If I let it go cold it will more than likely leak and never stop leaking and therefore be junk. Is this true? I would love to do what you say but I'm just worried about what I was told. If I get through the winter and the stove does the trick I'll most likely do what you advise. Any input would be welcome.

 

[hoverfly]

personally, I think you should disable the boiler's hot water and install an electric water heater...and save on the use of oil even more

I agree but I have I not heated yet with my stove. If all goes well I will do just that. My problem is I was told if I completely shut down my older boiler I may not be able to resurrect it again. I was told If I let it go cold it will more than likely leak and never stop leaking and therefore be junk. Is this true? I would love to do what you say but I'm just worried about what I was told. If I get through the winter and the stove does the trick I'll most likely do what you advise. Any input would be welcome.

Yes unless you have a cold start boiler the sections will separate and may not real seal again. At that point you are better off getting a new boiler.

 

[nailed_nailer]

Glad the link helped you out. I found it about 5 years ago. It was how I purchased my oil for many years.

It is not "all inclusive" just those dealers that choose to participate.

In my situation the furnace supplied only hot air to the house. I have a separate propane water heater.

With 2 ladies in the house I won't be able to get rid of the Hot water heater any time soon

Our stove does a great job of heating the entire house for us. Small house with very open 1 story floorplan.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---

 

[bostonbaked]

Thank you both, For the boiler info and the link. Like I said if all goes well this winter I may just remove the boiler altogether. I have been shutting it down to some degree to save oil but never let it go cold. This has stretched the oil . I have only burned about 75 gallons since may 13 and that's not bad. That oil cost me $4.16 in may. I figure with the 70 or so gallons I have left in the tank another 100 may get me through the winter doing the same.

 

[SteveT]

I've thought of the conversion to electric hot water (hopefully this year the oil burner will not be needed for heat). A few things hold me back.

First, there may be occasional time when we need oil heat. As one of the earlier posters said turning off the boiler could ruin it so it wouldn't be available if we need it later.

But also here in the Boston area the payback doesn't look great. Right now we use about 1/2 gallon of oil a day (naturally a lot of that oil is just wasted, but that's what we use for water heating). So oil cost is about $1.75 a day for DHW.

I guessing we use about 25 or 30 gallons of hot water a day and need to raise the temperature by about 70 degrees. If I'm right that would take about 5 kwh of electricity or nearly $1.00/day at the local rate $0.19 per kilowatt hour. Not huge payback in light of the expense of conversion and the potential loss of the boiler.

 

[bostonbaked]

I have pretty much the same thoughts. Which is why I'm going to see how the stove works out first. My house is very small and holds the heat well so I think it will handle the heating. The conversion I could do myself so for what my next oil delivery will cost I could make the switch. I too like having that boiler for back up. The other thing is if I junk the boiler and try to sell my house I'll have to replace it. First chance I get to sell at a decent price I'm out off Mass. Oh well, decisions, decisions........

 

[imacman]

Hey Baked,

do I understand that you have oil fired hot water baseboard heat? How old is the boiler?

Just wondering about what you were told that if the boiler is left cold, it will leak.....my boiler is 22 yrs old, and it basically doesn't run from about May until October...I turn it on just long enough to heat the water in the H2O tank (I have a Bock indirect), and that water lasts for 2-3 days in the summer. I've never had a leak.

 

[hoverfly]

Depends on what type of boiler you have, yours could be a cold start boiler. In some cases the boiler is one piece, or one section. If you have a larger house or have a large demand you may have more than one section. It's just better to keep the boiler on if you don't know what you have. Another tip, turn the temperature of the aquastat down to around 140F degrees during the summer.

 

[richg]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The price of pellets is going way up, I have to run out immediately and get an oil burner so I can save money this winter! Does anyone know what a good oil burner is? Who makes the best oil? Hardwood or softwood oil? Precambrian or Jurassic oil? I ordered a new oil burner in May, but I can't get it until January of 2009! Why can't I get my oil burner right now when I want one! Has anyone ever bought from oildirect.com? I ordered from them and they charged my credit card and never called me back. The pellet industry put out a study that shows oil burns dirtier than pellets. How do you calculate your savings with oil? How do you store your oil? I heard that there is a shortage of oil burners. Do Home Depot and Lowes sell oil?

 

[bostonbaked]

Hey Baked,

do I understand that you have oil fired hot water baseboard heat? How old is the boiler?

Just wondering about what you were told that if the boiler is left cold, it will leak.....my boiler is 22 yrs old, and it basically doesn't run from about May until October...I turn it on just long enough to heat the water in the H2O tank (I have a Bock indirect), and that water lasts for 2-3 days in the summer. I've never had a leak.

Mac I have a four section boiler 30 plus years old. I was told it has push nipples between the sections. I get my hot water from the coil only and don't have a tank. I was told if I shut it down and allow it to go cold it will more than likely begin to leak and may never stop. I would then have to replace it. I don't want to do that. I have lowered the temps and do shut it down between uses but don't let it get cold. I have saved quite a bit by doing this. I just don't want to go into a winter with an untested heating source ( my stove) and not have any back up. So I figured it would be best to see how things pan out and decide in the spring what will become of the boiler. I don't want to buy or burn oil any more. My home is small and you can heat it with a match as they say. I feel the stove is going to work fine but I'm not a gambler. If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all. So I don't dare kill it yet.