Ditching oil

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jetsam

Minister of Fire
Dec 12, 2015
5,337
Long Island, NY
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Hey all-

I have about 2400sf of 1970s house. It was built with hydronic baseboards and a fuel oil burning boiler (that's real common up here).

Well, I threw the breaker on the oil burner years ago (I use a wood stove to heat the place), and I want to get rid of the oil tank.

That oil boiler is still the backup plan in case we need to go out of town in the winter, so getting rid of the oil tank means an electric boiler that can run when we are not around.

That got me to thinking... I will have a spare flue there when the oil burner goes. Is there such a thing as an indoor wood boiler with a backup electric mode? I could use the wood boiler on the coldest days to back up the stove, which would be nice, and the electric could run when we are away.
 
Wood boiler systems are extremely expensive and complicated. Looking at 20,000$. The electric wall hung boiler is small, cheap, zero maintenance, and convenient as a backup. 1000$.

Don’t screw with a wood boiler unless you’re ready for a whole lot of commitment.

If it was easy the 1800 sf slab that I’m sitting on right now that is full of radiant pex would be heated with water.
 
Most indoor boilers are designed around several hundred gallons of water for thermal storage. I'm with Highbeam on this one.
 
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Welp, that was simpler than expected. Thanks and that's sorted!

I guess that flue won't get used- a small woodstove would be nice down there, but it would have to have like a 4' horizontal run to get out of the equipment room, and I am not signing on for that particular headache.