Need a new boiler and water heater

[faultymechanics]

As my wife and I get closer to closing on our new house we are talking more and more about renewable energy. We're excited to use the Wood Stove but realize that likely wont heat the entire house.

We are planning on replacing the ancient Propane Wtaer Heater and boiler with a new 95% efficiency Propane setup, however, we are wondering if there's an alternative option.

Heat pumps don't seem like they will work when the temps get sub-zero up here (Northern NH) so we are trying to figure out if there are even any renewable options that wont break the bank completely or could be supported by a rebate program.

Recently I stumbled upon the idea of a Pellet Boiler and water heater and I'm wondering if that's a feasible option for a 2500sqft residential property?

Will I even have enough space in the basement to put the boiler and some form of storage? I will be using a bunch of the basement space for my shop but I'm wondering if this is an avenue we can go down. I believe NH is offering up to 10k in rebates for Pellet Boiler installation which is a mighty rebate.

Any experienced people out there able to send some info my way? If there's no way to make it work, Propane will be fine. Just seems to be a bummer that we want to help the planet, aim for renewables but have to put in a 10-15 year lifespan device in that's going to be burning fossil fuel.

Thoughts and input gladly welcomed!

 

[peakbagger]

Sure pellet boilers are an option. The state of NH has incentives for installing them. There was a big subsidy in Berlin to install them a few years ago. MeSys over in Bethel Maine does bulk deliveries to Berlin. I am not sure if anyone does deliveries to your area. These are bulk systems, there is a bulk storage tank in the basement and the bulk truck blows them in. These are fairly expensive, hard to justify installing pellet boilers these days with cheap propane.

 

[faultymechanics]

Sure pellet boilers are an option. The state of NH has incentives for installing them. There was a big subsidy in Berlin to install them a few years ago. MeSys over in Bethel Maine does bulk deliveries to Berlin. I am not sure if anyone does deliveries to your area. These are bulk systems, there is a bulk storage tank in the basement and the bulk truck blows them in. These are fairly expensive, hard to justify installing pellet boilers these days with cheap propane.

NH has some really nice rebates setup for these systems right now. I did reach out to MEsys and they have some residential units that don’t require the gigantic storage tank but can still take bulk pellet deliveries. I don’t want to give up all my basement as I do a lot of wrenching on motorcycles and vintage mopeds as well as a slew of other stuff.

We would love to use alternative energy but in the end the most informed decision will prevail. If propane is the way to go, we can stick with that. The greener energy and savings on heating cost savings is pretty tasty.

 

[Highbeam]

I thought one of the benefits of pellet boilers is that they don’t require storage tanks and don’t require bulk pellet delivery. No window!

 

[faultymechanics]

I thought one of the benefits of pellet boilers is that they don’t require storage tanks and don’t require bulk pellet delivery. No window!

depending on the company you can get ones that have built in hoppers or you can use a storage tank with bags...orwith bulk delivery.

NH has a requirement in their program that mandates the use of 3ton storage and the ability to bulk deliver.

This was likely to encourage the development of a delivery infrastructure through the states. Likely lobbyists were involved since only MEsys delivers bulk pellets in our area.