opinions

[jlupi]

I have been looking into supplementing my oil heat. I have a 1400 sqft ranch. my concern is heat since the heat is one zone will the heat travel sufficiently the far side of the house that I wont need to move my thermastat to warm the that side of the house. and over heat the living room and defeat the purpose?

anouther question is that my workhorse boiler is from 1960. It has run fine but should I just upgrade that and hold off on the pellet stove now getting some savings from the efficiency increase?

I can get a regency gf55 for a good price of 1700 but Id need to act..

 

[MCPO]

my 2 thoughts are
1...a new more efficient central heating system should be the priority , and for good reasons. It will maintain your homes value and save you fuel .
2...a new pellet stove could postpone the above investment and possibly extend the life of your old heating system but really, thats just putting off the inevitable.

 

[jlupi]

thanks for the reply pyro. any opinion on part 1? even if it winds up being for the future.

 

[Fsappo]

X2 on what Gio said. Upgrade the heating system. If you do, run a comparison using a high efficiency propane system instead. Really, the nex thing to spend money on would be tightening up the home.

When it does come time for a pellet heater, I can give my experience:

I heated a 1500 sq ft or so home with a wood stove in the worst possible location. The wood stove had a blower, but not near the convection capabilities of a pellet stove. The room the wood stove was in was 75 degrees all winter, the farthest reaches of my home stayed around 69 or 70. I did this by using 1 ceiling fan to help move the heat.

Good price on that Regency model if its not been used. Even used, not so terrible.

 

[jlupi]

thanks for the info

its new.

 

[AVIVIII]

We put in a new H.B. Smith cast boiler last year.

Made in the U.S., high quality and 86% efficient. Not the most efficient on the market, but its less than half the cost of a Buderus.

While there is a lot of benefit to putting in a new central heating system. You could always supplement your existing boiler with a pellet boiler.

There are also some wood/oil combination boilers out there.

All food for thought...

 

[sb81]

From what I've read here, some people heat far more than 1400 sqft with a pellet stove alone. I just bought one for a 1500-1600 sqft house, and I intend on it being my lone heat source.

It may take some fans to help circulate depending on how your house is laid out.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I'm surprised that no one chimed in yet to remind you that pellet stoves are SPACE HEATERS. They heat the room you are in very well and depending on you house layout, they will send some heat to the rest of the house. Replacing a 50 year old inefficient boiler with a new one is certainly going to save you a LOT on oil or another fuel of your choice. A combo fuel unit, be it pellet/oil or heat pump/oil is also an option. Up there the heat pump would probably have to be geothermal so that may be too expensive until the H/C guys stop overpricing geothermal.

Good luck on your choices!

 

[Don2222]

Hello

A new Triple Pass, cold start boiler with an outdoor reset and a .65 gph nozzle will use less than half the oil you are now using!! That is what I got! See signature below.

Also I cut the zone into 2 zones and turn down the Living Room - Kitchen, bathroom zone to 55 degrees at night! Then turn down the bedroom zones during the day! That also saves Beaucu Bucks!!

Also if you have less than R53 Fiberglass insulation in your attic, you are heating the outside world and wasting more big bucks!

Then buy a pellet stove and save more oil!

 

[save$]

My cousin is an EMT with a local fire dept. He built a new home and has geothermal heat. He has a lot of friends with skills so some of his construction cost was a bit less than what most others would pay.
For him, geothermal is affordable. He has had his heating system for two years and is very satisfied. He does have a propane stove for backup in case of power failure or to take the edge of the very cold nights. I would say crunching the numbers is worth it before you commit.

 

[schoondog]

How well insulated is your home ? Regardless of how you heat it, you are letting your heating dollars leak out to good old ma nature. spend a portion at least of your heating investment dollars on insulation. And for what its worth I heat my home (1300 sq.ft.) with a pellet insert, using very little or no oil. I might tell someone to buy a pellet stove, pellets and insulation first while your old heater still works for emergency or supplement heat for a year or so and then purchase a smaller more efficient boiler. That plan worked well for me.

Schoondog

 

[jlupi]

outside walls not so well. Aluminum siding has stopped me from blowing in cell up to this point.

 

[schoondog]

Insulate my good man, insulate! Not as exciting as pellet burning, but very important. I got windows and wall insulation and wrap with vinyl siding one year. Then blew12" of Green Fiber on top of what was already in my attic. (which was not much, 3" with vapor barrier) My oil monster is a cheap 15 yr. old Wiel Mclain which is now on DHW duty for the most part. Next summer may swap it out if work stays steady. Don't get me wrong, I could be even better insulated, but for what it is this crappy old house stays pretty warm in January on the cheap.
Pellet heating is cheaper than oil heating, but it aint free. Make your home as efficient as possible regardless what you use to heat/cool it.

Schoondog