What Would You Do?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
UpStateNY

UpStateNY

Feeling the Heat
May 4, 2008
435
Catskill Mountains
Would you convert from a 25 year old oil boiler with superstore domestic hot water tank to propane boiler with on demand hot water (tankless)?

Currently I need to replace the superstore tank which is about $1500. The new propane boiler with on demand domestic hot water, no tank, will cost me about $5,300 installed. I then remove the old fuel oil boiler, superstore hot water tank and 275 gallon oil tank from my garage. I may even remove the metal chimney that runs through the roof of the house. No need for it. I could also convert the dryer to propane later on.

Yearly I currently spend:
$1000 on fuel oil for heating downstairs and domestic hot water at $2.20 a gallon
$900 on wood pellets
$222 on oil boiler cleaning and service contract

I can get a contract for $2.00 a gallon of propane and they provide the two 100 gallon propane tanks. Or buy the propane tanks for $1,100 and pay $1.60 a gallon for propane.

I have a well maintained woodpellet stove and posted here many times.

My thinking is my boiler's fuel oil heat gun will need replacing soon another $700 bill. May as well take the leap now. I will have more space in the garage and no need for service contract on gas boiler. Everything will be new and easier to maintain.

What would you do?
 
The one complaint I hear about propane is that the local market is often dominated by a single co. like Suburban so no competition. I know it doesn't save any space but I think I'd just replace the storage tank.
 
How many people live in the house? Do you have a dishwasher? How many bathrooms, both downstairs/upstairs? Do you have a laundry room with a sink?
 
All else being equal you'll spend 1363.00 for the same amount of BTU's that the oil produced. If the unit is more efficient and you don't need the service contract you should come out ahead.
Ron
 
I had this issue last year. First plumber came to the house and pronounced my oil furnace dead, but said that he could put in a tankless natural gas heat/hot water system that would allow me to tear the furnace and the oil tank out. I never did get a full quote, but he told me it was pricey.

Second plumber, an old timer, told me the oil burner might not be dead, but that he had installed several of the tankless systems and half the time the people called him back to come take it out because it could not handle the demand for hot water. I had him put in a new water heater.

Third plumber fixed the oil burner, and it now works like a charm.

Moral of the story? Beats me, but I do prefer to hear from experienced plumbers rather than sitting down by myself trying to compare dollars, BTU's and all that good stuff. Some of these concepts work better on paper than they do in the harsher climates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bogieb
I replaced my old Utica (heat and potable water) boiler with a more efficient/smaller Buderus and bought a cheapo 40 gallon hot water heater.
 
I wonder why you wouldn't need a service contract on a propane boiler? Those need cleaning and servicing at least there every couple of years.

I prefer oil - had it for 28 years. I hate the propane I have now (except I love propane stoves). As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that propane is better at is not gelling when it is -18* out :p (which, I admit is pretty freaking important in our areas). But since your tank is in your garage, that probably isn't much of a concern.

Regardless, that old oil burner will probably need replaced soon anyway, so it is good to be thinking about it. And gaining room in the garage is nothing to sneeze at either.
 
They had propane where I worked for several decades and converted to Natural Gas when it came through. Propane here is very expensive, it's not even a consideration, so it's hard for me to identify with what you want to do. We do heat hot water and the kitchen stove with it . But the main boiler is oil. We put in a new boiler about 10 or 12 years ago and also a new gas 40 gal hot water heater. The new boiler uses less oil than the old and it also heats an additional 500 sq ft. apartment that wasn't on the house with the old boiler. I don't know, I like oil, I service it myself though. I find I do a better job than the people we had coming in and we tried several. None of them touched the vent pipe and in due time plenty of soot loads up in there if not cleaned, causing problems. I ended up cleaning the venting myself, so might just as well go back to cleaning the whole thing like I did the old boiler.

Our options were Natural gas or oil. My wife has seen too many news casts with Boston area houses blown up from NG so that was a no go. NG is pretty cheap here so far though, could have been a good choice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bogieb
Stay with oil. you can burn oil, kero, or bio fuel if you have to, with propane you are stuck with the company that provides the tank and their price.

with oil you generally get @ 140,000btu's of heat per gallon, the equivolent of propane is just under 100,000

having said that propane stoves, grills and clothes dryers are all more efficient than their electric counterparts.

You could go oil system 2000 and propane with everything else, that way your heat/h/w would be the most efficient and then you'd save electricity on the others, your call

the system 2000 with the carlin burner is very efficient and you can get it in gas or oil.
 
We don't have natural gas lines in our neighbor hood. Have oil tank in basement for hot air heat furnace, which by the way doesn't get used too often. We had an electric hot water heater for too many years. About 6 years ago I installed a Toyotomi oil fired on demand hot water heater. Well worth it. All the hot water we can use and very, very efficient.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

velvetfoot
Thinking Of Simplifying My Heating System
Replies
8
Views
451
The Inglenook
Prometeo
Prometeo
S
Getting hot water to a distant outdoor shower
Replies
13
Views
713
DIY and General non-hearth advice
xman23
xman23
Cold-as-ice
NTI Trinity 150 Hydronic Boiler issue.
Replies
14
Views
790
DIY and General non-hearth advice
fbelec
F
T
Hybrid Water Heater: Others experience & quote
Replies
6
Views
993
The Green Room
myusername
M
D
What would you do? (Sell or burn two cords of wood)
Replies
28
Views
2K
The Wood Shed
all night moe
A
Top Bottom
Back