What is best heating option?

[dzelman]

Folks:

I recently bought an attached house in Brooklyn. It has a new oil burner which heats the house and the water. The tank is 275 gallons. I am researching alternatives to oil heat, such as pellet stoves etc. I just dont know what is feasible for the house I bought. There are three floors and unfinished basement. The floors are approx. 20 ft by 55 feet. There are approx. 2 bedrooms per floor and one kitchen per floor.

What is the best heating option for this house? The house was built in approx. 1905. It is a brick house with front and back yards.

thanks for all suggestions, comments....

David

 

[begreen]

#1 best is to improve insulation, windows and sealing leaks.

What age and efficiency is the oil burner? Is this hot water or hot air heated? Is natural gas available? What is the price of pellets delivered in your area and do you have room to store 2-3 tons? (each ton palette takes up approx. 4wx4lx3h.)

 

[berlin]

get an anthricite coal stoker boiler, you will be very happy, less than half the cost of oil.

 

[philaphire]

are we talking Brooklyn NY? Park Slope boy here myself although I live in Suburban Philadelphia now. Welcome to the forum - I'm assuming cord wood is not an option?

 

[dzelman]

Thank you all for your responses:

I have a beckett oil burner which is fairly new. A company was here and told me if I upgrafde to "Rialo" (spelling) It would be 20% more efficient. The stove is old but recently tuned. I am putting in a new chminey as we speak. House is hot water heated. Natural gas is available thru Keyspan. I dont know about wood pellets..I could make some space for pellets, can they go outside? If 4x4x3 is in feet its not a problem.

How does the anthricite coal stoker boiler work? Does it require alot of maintenance? GOod thing about oil is I do almost nothing...What if I go on vacation? Is that a problem?

I dont think cord wood should be ruled out. But again, I dont want to have to fiddle with the heat every day and if i leave house (I have tenants) I want it to run problem free for a while...(i could hire someone etc...if i had to)

 

[berlin]

riello is not 20% more efficient than a well funtioning newer becket, save your money. anthricite coal is similar to pellets only more convienient and less expensive by a long shot. there are duel fuel coal/oil boilers available that automatically switch between fuels when on vacation.

http://www.efmheating.com/d520.html

http://www.harmanstoves.com/features.asp?id=6

my favorite is: http://www.keystoker.com/coaloilboilers.html

 

[begreen]

Daz what is the cost of NG per therm in Brooklyn. What is the cost of your heating oil?

How well insulated is this building? What shape are the windows in? This could be the best place to put your money. Berlin's gonna hate me for this, but I'm not a big fan of coal in urban neighborhoods. There are too many heavy metals and a lot of SO2 released when burning. Ask your neighbors first if they would mind if you switched to coal. Best to consider the impact on them before making big and expensive changes.

 

[berlin]

are we on the burning issues site or what?? we're talkiing anthricite, and we're talking in the amount a homeowner would burn. noone would know and there would be no effect. i'm not going to start getting into it on the heavy metals etc. chit, we're talking about brooklyn here, and you're worried about residential anthricite use? the cleanest of all solid fuels.

 

[begreen]

Note that I did not recommend any solid fuel.