Hello all,
Thank you all for running a very informative site... After moving from a house with a propane fired hot (warm) air furnace and 2 wood stoves to a older (mid 50's) home with a older oil boiler and floor radiators I started lurking around trying to learn as much as I could about boilers and water systems. Especially since the old house had 2 great wood burning stoves I was worrying about missing all the comfort of that radiant heat. Also having to order oil at $4+/gallon got me thinking (worrying) about alternatives as well especially once I found out there was a old Magic Chief coal boiler plumbed in parallel with the oil boiler. After all the lurking I decided that there was not much I could do this heating season so I have bitten the bullet ordered oil, had the maintenance on the old boiler performed and am going to ride out this heating season and learn all that I can in preparation for next year....I figure that setting up some realistic goals and getting info would be the best course of action.
on the goals side of the equation I am still interested in 1. reducing my reliance on oil for my heating and hotwater, 2. installing a system that is flexable and expandable (I am pretty sure I am going to need a detached 2 car garage/shop and I figure adding the radiant floor should be a given,) 3. Adding some type of solar suppliment seems to be a no brainer, 4. the system needs to be instrumented so I know existing heat loads, oil usage, how the radiators are doing, what is going on with DHW. I figure that goal 4 is what i should spend some time on this winter so I can make some some decisions about heat sources boiler or stoves, inside or out (in new garage/shop), fuel types wood,pellet,corn (coal really does not interest me), heat distribution (radiators, retro fit radiant other) going forward. Does anyone have a simple way to gather data like this? I have looked at the system at http://www.ourcoolhouse.com/scada.htm and considered trying to modify that but am interested in hearing about others experiences.
Thanks again for a great site.
Thank you all for running a very informative site... After moving from a house with a propane fired hot (warm) air furnace and 2 wood stoves to a older (mid 50's) home with a older oil boiler and floor radiators I started lurking around trying to learn as much as I could about boilers and water systems. Especially since the old house had 2 great wood burning stoves I was worrying about missing all the comfort of that radiant heat. Also having to order oil at $4+/gallon got me thinking (worrying) about alternatives as well especially once I found out there was a old Magic Chief coal boiler plumbed in parallel with the oil boiler. After all the lurking I decided that there was not much I could do this heating season so I have bitten the bullet ordered oil, had the maintenance on the old boiler performed and am going to ride out this heating season and learn all that I can in preparation for next year....I figure that setting up some realistic goals and getting info would be the best course of action.
on the goals side of the equation I am still interested in 1. reducing my reliance on oil for my heating and hotwater, 2. installing a system that is flexable and expandable (I am pretty sure I am going to need a detached 2 car garage/shop and I figure adding the radiant floor should be a given,) 3. Adding some type of solar suppliment seems to be a no brainer, 4. the system needs to be instrumented so I know existing heat loads, oil usage, how the radiators are doing, what is going on with DHW. I figure that goal 4 is what i should spend some time on this winter so I can make some some decisions about heat sources boiler or stoves, inside or out (in new garage/shop), fuel types wood,pellet,corn (coal really does not interest me), heat distribution (radiators, retro fit radiant other) going forward. Does anyone have a simple way to gather data like this? I have looked at the system at http://www.ourcoolhouse.com/scada.htm and considered trying to modify that but am interested in hearing about others experiences.
Thanks again for a great site.
