boiler searching

[robertg276276]

Getting ready to close on a 1920 Craftsman house. Burnham oil with cast iron radiator in house now. Boiler is exhausting into chimney with no liner, told not to use until relined. Short budget, and trying to determine whether to replace boiler with direct vent oil, propane, or outdoor boiler. Old house had a Taylor outside. Have not looked for 12 years and cannot believe how times have changed since bought that Taylor. Found company called Portage and Main Boilers. Very impressed with their products. Thinking about their ML30 shaker. Our new house is 2500+ sq ft and would like to heat it, domestic hot water, and add a future hot tub and small green house. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appriated.

 

[muncybob]

Living in an old house myself, the 1st thing I would do is seal up that house best that you can(assuming it needs it). New windows were my first move as they were the old wood double hung type, attic insulation was next. Probably a heat loss calculation is in order to determine what size you may need.

There are many more choices out there now than even just a few years ago....do your research and ask a lot of questions...that's how I approached it. One thing I made sure of was to have a heating system that had at least 2 sources of fuel. Does the Burnham have to be replaced or can it be kept for back up? We decided on wood with oil back up since oil was the fuel that we could obtain.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

 

[robertg276276]

The burham is still usable, but the chimney it vents into needs re-lined. Tight budget and was thinking instead of expense of re-lining would be better to put the money into a better heating option. We want to reline the flue in the future, as able, so that would be a backup in the future. As far as now, we need to find a direct vent boiler propane or oil, or go with an outdoor boiLer. Prefer outdoor, as I know of the benefits. We have wood and coal in area. Coal would be easier to get for now.