Newbie with Questions About Boilers

[mtnhiker70]

Hi. I live in a 1940s cape with a 4yr oil-fired old boiler. The house in under-insulated - 2x4 walls and 6" roof rafters. Rock wool in the walls. We insulated the attic last winter. We added alittle more insulation to the attic this winter too. The house sits atop a ledge; my crawl space is 74" tall at the highest point (to the under side of the flr joists). The existing boiler sits in that spot. I could not fit 2 boilers, so i'd need to install a new one to replace the oil one (rather than a supplemental).

With the prices of oil going up, i'm looking for alternatives. The heat costs $500/month at current prices if it's cold. Thankfully this winter has been warm here. We live in RI. I was looking at Harman boilers online. The wood/coal ones are too tall for my crawl space. we live on a 6 acres that we can harvest, so a wood boiler would be nice. i'd consider pellets though too, bc i'm home alone often (i weigh 100#, and am not a heavy lifter) and think the pellets would be easier to load up, but i'm not sure... storage is an issue.

The house is currently 1300sf, but we plan to add-on in the future to make it about 2500sf and quite spread out. Additionally, I want to install a fireplace in the addition when we build it, as the house does not have a working fireplace. I don't want a wood stove, because i want a real fireplace look with a mantle.

this house is set up with 3 sets of copper pipe coming off the boiler. not sure how it would all work. also, my hot water is direct off the boiler, so i'd need a model that could accommodate that too.

Any recommendations? What sort of cost am i looking at? How much wood (or pellets) do you estimate i'd use??

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

Hi. I live in a 1940s cape with a 4yr oil-fired old boiler. The house in under-insulated - 2x4 walls and 6" roof rafters. Rock wool in the walls. We insulated the attic last winter. We added alittle more insulation to the attic this winter too. The house sits atop a ledge; my crawl space is 74" tall at the highest point (to the under side of the flr joists). The existing boiler sits in that spot. I could not fit 2 boilers, so i'd need to install a new one to replace the oil one (rather than a supplemental).

With the prices of oil going up, i'm looking for alternatives. The heat costs $500/month at current prices if it's cold. Thankfully this winter has been warm here. We live in RI. I was looking at Harman boilers online. The wood/coal ones are too tall for my crawl space. we live on a 6 acres that we can harvest, so a wood boiler would be nice. i'd consider pellets though too, bc i'm home alone often (i weigh 100#, and am not a heavy lifter) and think the pellets would be easier to load up, but i'm not sure... storage is an issue.

The house is currently 1300sf, but we plan to add-on in the future to make it about 2500sf and quite spread out. Additionally, I want to install a fireplace in the addition when we build it, as the house does not have a working fireplace. I don't want a wood stove, because i want a real fireplace look with a mantle.

this house is set up with 3 sets of copper pipe coming off the boiler. not sure how it would all work. also, my hot water is direct off the boiler, so i'd need a model that could accommodate that too.

Any recommendations? What sort of cost am i looking at? How much wood (or pellets) do you estimate i'd use??

I would reccomend that you get a good solid fuel heating contractor in there to see if a gasification boiler will fit in the space it needs to, if the chimney is adequate, etc etc etc. It doesn't sound like it will be cheap though. The boiler about $5,000 to $6,000 alone. Good luck, Randy

 

[webbie]

The plumbing in the house can pretty much stay the same - they all feed into one manifold before the boiler return. I assume this means you have three zones.

An add-on boiler can be set up to keep your existing boiler hot - and many also have DHW coils (for household water), so either way you can get your hot water.

One thing to consider is that there are built in fireplaces which are quite efficient- so you can get some heat out of the new fireplace and still have your mantel and the proper look.

As to a boiler - you do have to make a decision there. The best wood boiler is a wood-only boiler, and a pellet boiler is a pellet boiler. Pellets don't grow on trees, so if you have wood to harvest and want to do that (it's an important life style decision - that's a lot of wood to cut, haul and season), then the price of the fuel will be lower. But pellets are also nearly 1/2 the price of fuel oil, so that can be a good deal too.

As to the amount of fuel - roughly you will use a ton of pellets to replace 100 gallons of heating oil. A good cord of mixed hardwoods in a very efficient stove may replace 125 gallons or more.

Initial costs for an installed boiler AND chimney or vent can be quite high. I'd say from a low of $8K to a high of 15+K for most smaller systems which would do a house such as yours.

 

[mtnhiker70]

Thanks for the reply!
I don't think a pellet boiler would save me much then. Not enough to make it worth all the work.

I could do a wood fired boiler, harvesting our own wood. (i have a cousin who has one), but we don't have enough space in the crawl space. We are going to add-on to the house eventually though. i've been looking at the quadrafire 7100, and lenox monticeto estate online. do you know if their ducting kits for heating remote spaces are effective? i'd probably have to put another source of central heat in as well, right? what about in spring when you wouldn't want a raging fire in the fireplace?? And we'd have to keep our oil burner for the hot water in summer as well. i REALLY hate oil.

also when i install a wood burning fireplace in a new family room off my kitchen - would it be better to put in on the kitchen/family room wall or on the far side of the new addition? ie, is it better to have the blowers pointing in the direction you want the heat to go, or radiantly? another consideration is how far those duct kits can extend. seems to vary per fireplace manufacturer too. the quadrafire 7100 wins in this category.
I'm going to insulate more and install a new insulated basement door near the boiler for now.