Looking for advice

[capecod]

I want to use less oil( about 3. Fill-ups per year), I heat exclusively with my pellet stove. The furnace is used ONLY to heat hot water. I would like to replace my current boiler with a Geospring. Cost..of unit, of installation? Does this make sense for my situation? Thanks in advance,
Marina

 

[heaterman]

3 fills just for hot water? Standard 275 gallon oil tank?
How is your boiler configured controlwise? Is the boiler constantly hot?

 

[capecod]

Yes,3 fills (275) gallon oil tank, boiler is not constantly hot..just a major waste of oil, in my opinion..

 

[maple1]

Holy crap - over 2 gallons of oil per day - just for heating your DHW? I thought I was doing bad at 3/4 gallon per day with my old one.

I would definitely do something about that.

What do you do for backup heat if there is a problem with the pellet stove? Or the power goes out?

Since you're already doing pellets - I think I would lean towards yanking everything oil-related out of there (boiler, oil tank, the whole works), and putting in a Heat Pump Water Heater for DHW (like the Geospring) and make plans to also install (or arrange for the future possibility of installing) a pellet boiler. But even just putting in an ordinary electric hot water heater would get you miles ahead - our 80 gallon one only costs us around $30/month for family of 5.

Have you ever shut the boiler off completely? What exactly is it & how old? If you can do that without any leaks appearing, you could leave it in place for some backup heat if needed - but it feels some good getting rid of oil all together, I tell ya.

EDIT: On costs, some places/states have rebates on the HPWH, so check it out locally. Same for installation - would be a localized thing. Hopefully you can find a decent plumber. It's a fairly easy DIY thing though, if at all so inclined.

 

[heaterman]

3 tanks just for domestic water production is unbelievable..........unless you do laundry for an entire town.

So you must have an indirect water heater that is heated by the boiler? Just trying to get my head around how the system is set up and understand how it could possibly use that much oil for DHW only.

 

[capecod]

Yes, the water heater is heated by the boiler. I am a single gal who doesn't use much water, laundry and dishwasher maybe once per week.
I wanted to use the Nyletherm , but was told my basement was too large, the plumber would not install, etc
Basement gets no colder than 50 degrees in dead of winter.
Boiler is 3 yrs old, lowes has Ge Geospring for 999, 750 in rebates.
I just want to know if Geospring would solve some (oil) of my problems...

 

[capecod]

Sorry, rarely lose power where I live, when I do lose power, I just "punt."

 

[Fred61]

I'd install security cameras to identify the thief that's stealing your oil. This doesn't add up unless you have a leak.

 

[maple1]

I'd install security cameras to identify the thief that's stealing your oil. This doesn't add up unless you have a leak.

Two more reasons to get rid of everything oil.

 

[brant2000]

Basement gets no colder than 50 degrees in dead of winter.

You may have a difficult time running on a HPWH, if your basement is already approaching 50 deg F. Maybe your best bet is just the ol' conventional electric WH. Are you sure the boiler isn't supplying HW to anything else? Even if it's just losing standby heat somewhere, me suspects you couldn't be using that much for just DHW.

 

[EmmyQT]

I'm in similar situation, now heating exclusively with wood (love it!) but am still using about a half to two thirds of a gallon of oil a day just for hot water. I looked into the Geotherm heat pump water heater, but in my area they were only offering the $750 install rebate on new installations or for replacing an existing electric hot water heater, not for replacing an oil based water heating system. I also looked into going with a tankless on demand water heater system which seemed like it would be very efficient and from the ones I did research on weren't that expensive (but don't know if they would work for whole house) I haven't actually pursued anything further yet, but this might be a good way to go for DHW?

 

[maple1]

It is very hard to beat an ordinary conventional electric hot water heater (tank) - both in upfront & monthly use costs. Cheapest to buy, and like I mentioned above, they don't cost that much to operate. Not a fan of on-demands - more costly to buy & usually require a much heavier breaker & wiring.

Using an oil boiler just to heat DHW is about the worst way to do it.

And seriously on the mention of oil leaks also mentioned above - one of those could put you in a sudden world of big hurt.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have a Nyletherm add on (one of the old add ons) that has fine a good job in the summer and shoulder seasons. I have not used it in winter. My pellet boiler does that now as well as provide what is mostly auxiliary, but necessary heat, with the word insert providing most of the btus.

Anyway, you do have to think about the noise if you spend any time down in the basement, or wherever the heat pump water heater is.

 

[bdud]

MA has some good rebates for pellet boilers. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-grant-for-residential-pellet-heaters.135900/
However you say your boiler is 3 years old, might be able to sell it, you will save money in the long run. Not sure what companies will bulk deliver pellets to the Cape and the cost.
Not sure why you could get a Nyletherm, "I wanted to use the Nyletherm , but was told my basement was too large, the plumber would not install, etc"
I presume you mean too small, too large is not a problem, it really is heating the water the same way the Geospring would do, but the Nyletherm is separate from the tank.
I have a Nyle Geyser which heats my hot water in the warmer months. It runs longer when the basement is less than say 60 degrees, it does a great job keeping the basement cooler and less humid. It sits in my boiler area which I would classify as small.
You could look at a hot water storage tank which had an indirect coil so the oil boiler will heat the complete tank rather than keep cycling for smaller amounts. Having an electric element for standby would be helpful, you could also use the Nyletherm / Geyser for your summer hot water heating.
The Geospring does not have an indirect coil.

 

[velvetfoot]

My opinion is that oil is still a lower compared to any electric.

 

[F4jock]

I want to use less oil( about 3. Fill-ups per year), I heat exclusively with my pellet stove. The furnace is used ONLY to heat hot water. I would like to replace my current boiler with a Geospring. Cost..of unit, of installation? Does this make sense for my situation? Thanks in advance,
Marina

I had this problem although I didn't use anywhere near the oil you did. Piped a 2.5 gallon electric water heater into my hot water system 40 gallon water maker coil so I could valve off the oil burner in the summer. Had a bit of fun finding one with a thermostat that would go up high enough. I use the same circ pump the watermaker does. Just piped and valved it so that the heater supplies watermark coil. In the winter I valve the burner's tankless coil back to the watermaker as I use the oil burner to heat the back bedrooms so I consider the hot water a "free" by-product of that use. Saves oil and electric use is minimal as all I'm doing is heating about three gallons of water in a closed loop. Beats heck out of twelve grand for a boiler, for now anyway.

 

[capecod]

I was told directly by Tom(nyletherm guru) that 1) my basement is too large, and he is used to installing in a small space...also, my basement gets colder 50 degrees during the winter, and that might be a detriment to the nyletherm.

I just want to use less oil (or none! )and get something installed to that end.

Pardon my ignorance, but don't I have a conventional electric water heater now, or is a boiler fired by oil a whole different animal?

The basement is Not finished, so I spend NO time there..

 

[velvetfoot]

I don't understand that logic. Bigger is better.

 

[F4jock]

I was told directly by Tom(nyletherm guru) that 1) my basement is too large, and he is used to installing in a small space...also, my basement gets colder 50 degrees during the winter, and that might be a detriment to the nyletherm.

I just want to use less oil (or none! )and get something installed to that end.

Pardon my ignorance, but don't I have a conventional electric water heater now, or is a boiler fired by oil a whole different animal?

The basement is Not finished, so I spend NO time there..

The standard oil-fired boiler typically has what is called a tankless coil. It heats water as you use it with little to no real storage capacity. Years back I got a watermaker. That is nothing more than a 40 gallon tank with a coil that is piped to the tankless coil and a thermostat that activates a circ pump to the tankless coil when the watermaker drops below setpoint. The tankless coil thus just heats a small closed loop. I then modified it so that the electric heater does this in the summer.

 

[F4jock]

I don't understand that logic. Bigger is better.

Not if it gets too cold. What you'll get is an iced-over unit.

 

[velvetfoot]

It won't get too cold if the basement is bigger rather than smaller.

 

[bdud]

I was told directly by Tom(nyletherm guru) that 1) my basement is too large, and he is used to installing in a small space...also, my basement gets colder 50 degrees during the winter, and that might be a detriment to the nyletherm..

Interesting. Not sure why a larger room would be unsuitable, would love to understand why.
Capecod, I would rule out using a heat pump water heater in the winter. The heat pump will make your basement even colder and lower its efficiency even more.
I don't know your how your house is laid out, but in the summer when it will be the best time to use your heat pump, I would expect your basement would normally be warm and humid. The heat pump will cool and remove the humidity from the air, it is its own mini a/c unit. Some people have ducted the cooler air to adjacent rooms to take advantage of its cool air output. I keep the door open in the boiler area as I have a bedroom in my basement and keeps it about 68 - 72 degrees down there. The warmer the area the better for efficiency, so unless your basement is cool all year round a heat pump would work and you get its other benefits. If you have a/c ducted in the summer into your basement, you most likely could turn it down or off.

 

[velvetfoot]

Even operating a Geospring on resistance would likely be better than oil.

 

[maple1]

Pardon my ignorance, but don't I have a conventional electric water heater now, or is a boiler fired by oil a whole different animal?

A 'conventional electric water heater' does not use oil for heat. It has electric elements inside that do the heating. That is the way I would go if I were you (or the Geospring) - and get rid of all the oil stuff.

 

[maple1]

My opinion is that oil is still a lower compared to any electric.

Not sure what you mean there?