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??
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??