Switzer 1750

[Sukhoi29SU]

Gary and his daughter drove out from New York to install his 1750 gal boiler at my home in northern Illinois. I put a deposit on this boiler back in 2019 before I started a major home renovation project that I ended up GC’ing and doing a significant amount of work on myself. The project took a lot longer than I envisioned, so I wasn’t ready for the boiler until recently. After many years of phone conversations and emails, I finally felt that I had everything prepped as best that I could, and Gary made the long drive out to northern Illinois, where we completed the install in two days.

1750 gallon boiler will heat approx 7400sf. Approx 4000sf of living space, 1700sf of upper garage, and 1700sf of workshop underneath garage where boiler sits. Boiler sits within 10” concrete/ICF walls with 3” of foam on each side.

Propane backup (been primary for a couple years) Bosch Greenstar boiler on opposite corner of the room. I have 1 1/4” pex running supply/return lines through 4” PVC along ceiling over to the wall of Bosch boiler, DHW tank, and pumps. I also ran 3/4” lines through the PVC pipe and through Gary’s wood boiler for DHW pre-heat.

For radiant heat use, designed to use Gary’s wood boiler water until 120 degrees when it kicks over to propane.

I have obviously yet to heat the floors with it, but Gary fired it up for the first time and brought cold well water up to temp nicely.

My plan is to build a 2x6 wall around the boiler, insulate with batt insulation and 2”foam board before dry walling the outside. I’ll most likely rock wool the interior. I’ll leave 6-9 feet at the front of the boiler for wood storage and a small access door for getting the tool through to clean the tubes. I’ll put an 8” hole in the concrete wall behind boiler for air. This room will cut down on blower noise, and also keep the heat manageable in the workshop if I decide to fire up in summer for domestic hot water.

I made the decision for a Switzer boiler after considerable research here on this site. I certainly appreciate the wealth of knowledge here.

Gary is brilliant, and you won’t find a nicer guy. I’m confident that this boiler will serve me well and I can cut way down on the propane usage this upcoming winter. I highly recommend reaching out to him if you’re considering an indoor boiler. Pictures of the install attached.