why switch out the old boiler? what do you hope to gain? you will almost surely never recoup the money spent on a new boiler. the old boiler will probabaly never "go bad" or rust through, if it's a boiler from the 30's it's heavy cast iron and will last for your purposes vitually forever. there will be a slight efficiency increase in a new boiler, but not enough to ever "pay for itself". if your oil tanks are rotting; replace them! that has nothing to do with the boiler itself, and oil tanks that are not treated and have the water drained off the bottom regularly will go bad, it's not uncommon. if your worried about the durability or age of the controlls/parts on the boiler, replace them, new pumps/burner can be had for a few hundered dollars if you shop around, then have your oil serviceperson install them. There is no financial/durabilty/longevity etc. reason to switch out boilers, if you want to spend some money and do it then that's your choice, however be assured that not much will be gained from doing so. Baymee is correct, regardless of whether or not you "imagined" ever using coal, todays coal heating appliances are very convenient, clean and easy-to-use. IF saving money really is a desire on your part, I HIGHLY suggest checking into a coal heating system.

Thanks Baymee: Looked at that fuel comparison, seems like oil replacement is the best option. At my age (61) I also have to look at payback time. Here in B.C. Canada, we have gotten a price for a new 86% effecient oil-boiler at $3600 installed. And we already have a 250 gallon tank. Wheras, the propane boiler is $7500 plus, including installation. As for daddo, yea, could look at cheaper fuel, but we do buy the more expensive bio-fuel. 20%canola-80%oil. Eases my conscience a bit-lol. Just in case you guys were wondering what it costs to heat a 1700 sq.ft. home here, it goes like this= 4 cords firewood-$660-60 gallons propane-$275, and this years total oil bill was-$720. or approximately $1700 per year. I suppose in todays world, that isn`t all that bad. The reason for the different heat sources is this old house is a four level split. *And when the power goes out cause of a wind storm, we like to have that back-up. Thanks again for the feedback. George

Let me tell you about "junk" LIner mfg'rs recommending stainless with coal - 2-5 year lifespan w/ sudden complete collapse causing a potentially life-threatening situation. This is typically 316L or ti, the most corrosion resistant stainless liner material. Complete collapse - looked like a slinky. Lining was recommended strongly by installer - tile liner was in excellent shape and this potentially deadly disaster could have been completely avoided if the chimney was never lined with stainless. Liner mfg'r did step up and offer a free replacement. (North east Penn); Stainless class a metal stack interior collapse after three years w/ coal ( Coal rated and warrantied chimney - documented - Fredonia, NY) + Many more. Stainless class a chimney failure 316L (Westport, NY) Less than 15 years use w/ well maintained oil boiler. Top two sections failed internally from corrosion - every section had visible pin-holes. Stainless 304 liner failure - top three sections badly pinholed/pitted and many remaining parts felt like aluminum foil (Akron, NY) Numerous aluminum liner failures including total collapse w/ Nat. gas (Buffalo, NY) Partly due to poor installation practice (uninsulated liner in unlined masonry flues in contact with alkaline mortar parging and joints). Many other liner failures were partial failures of the liners (either top or bottom) and could not be attributed to faulty installation. One of the few areas where stainless liners DO serve the purpose of increasing safety is in flues serviced by enclosed wood-burning appliances - stoves, boilers, and furnaces. With wood, there doesn't seem to be widespread pitting corrosion the stainless steel (hopefully insulated) offers protection to any masonry against the rapid temperature rise and damage of a chimney fire. Chimney fires, of course, are a non-issue with other fuels. With fuels other than wood, a metal chimney liner is often not necessary and CAN fail catastrophically - potentially causing an unsafe condition that otherwise would not exist. This is especially true with fuels such as coal and heating oil.

You are in the EXACT situation I am, except that my home is 25 years old. As far as insulating goes: Get those light switch and outlet plate insulating foam pads. They can help block drafts through those openings and are CHEAP. A 10-pack of universal fit pads is about $1 to $2. I found them at Home Depot (top shelf above replacement switches and sockets in a clear and purple package). If your basement and attic are well insulated, you can put insulated siding on the house. And maybe even a vapor barrier. Just remember that the tighter you make the house, you need to provide controlled ventilation to keep the humidity and air quality in check. Too little ventilation leads to mold. As far as the boilers go. My heating company showed me their line-up and had me choose three. They broke them down into a Good, Better, Best document. I researched the boilers, which included the latest-and-greatest Modulating boilers. (Modulating is their new buzz word.) I couldn't find much to make me confident that the reliability of a modulating boiler (whereby the boiler can control its flame size) would be worth the risk of it going out when it's below zero. I researched a boiler that wasn't on the Good, Better, Best list from the heating company. It's the Weil-McLain GV. The boiler is a 15+ year old design, 87.5% efficient. It's a condensing boiler. The heating company installed it for me almost two weeks ago. They installed it with an Outdoor Temperature Reset, which is a unit that adjusts the boiler water temperature in relation to the outdoor temperature. The boiler has been operating at 100F ~ 120°F so far because the temperature has been hovering around freezing. The Outdoor Reset module saves you a lot of money because when it's 30°F outside, you don't NEED the boiler to run at 180°F water temperature. This boiler also goes cold when it's not needed. When a thermostat calls for it, the boiler can go to the set water temperature within a few minutes. Another energy saving because you don't need to store hot water when it's not needed. The Outdoor Reset module follows a calculated curve to set the water temperature. It has to be programmed for your climate and heat loss. Speaking of heat loss: Definitely get a calculation done. With this, we found that the old boiler was more than double the BTU capacity! Holy waste of gas, Batman! Our installer pre-programmed the boiler control module to work with an indirect water heater and even plumbed for it. Looking back (a whole week later), I would say that if you can afford it, get the hot water heater added on. This arrangement would allow you to use your old chimney passage for the new boiler. I didn't go that route and ended up having to have a new hole in the roof. Oh well. My recommendation is to direct vent the boiler, which provides it with fresh intake air from the outside. We let ours use air from within the garage and this allows us to hear the combustion fan more. Once we get rid of our gas fired hot water heater, we can use the old flue as an air intake for the boiler, which will muffle its sound as well as keep our garage from being cooled by the air exchange. With a condensing boiler you'll need a drain somewhat nearby. Our nearest drain was the washer drain opening. Since that's higher than the drain on the flu, we have a condensate pump normally used for an air conditioner. I don't know how often the pump runs, but the flu generates a lot of condensate so far. So far I'm very pleased with this boiler. It's not on the bleeding edge of technology, so I don't feel like a guinea pig or beta tester.