Jim

What size and efficiency do you have now?

I assume a high eff boiler is being proposed?

What size and mdl are being proposed?

WM is a well recognized brand. Dealer experienced in boiler installs is a must. Ask for references.

IMO

Make sure you have a heat loss calculation performed for your home. It is the only way to size a heating system. Matching a new boiler to the old one is doing justice for no one. I know you are not looking for anything fancy, but a high efficiency boiler would be a good option. Do you have natural gas available to you? The old boiler will be drained most likely if the headers and valves are to be replaced. Meaning the zones will probably be flushed in the filling/purging process before your new boiler is fired.

Here is a link that might be useful: heatandcooldiy

Thanks,

I dont think its that efficient, the lats time the gas co. was out, they mentioned its about 70% or so;its the original boiler, house built in 64.

ON the label for the boiler it has 150000 btu for AGA Input; then 120000BTU for AGA output; and lastly 105000BTU for net.

I dont think we can go with high efficiency because its not vented to brick chimney; its vented within the middle of house up through I gather a steel or some sort of pre-fab chimney ( I forget the exact building term for it).

Yes, it is natural gas.

Tiger, what do you mean by size and md1?

I will talk to him how many WM he has installed etc, but perosnlaly, I dont think he would of recommended it if he did not feel comfortable installing. He is a well recognized in town for over 40 years, and he mentioned he even has a WM in his home.

Thank s

Jim

A boiler which was installed in 1964 is likely to be oversized. It looks like you have a boiler with a 150,000 BTU input and 105,000 BTU output. This would make to efficiency about 70%. The contractor should determine the size of the boiler based on the amount of baseboard radiators yo have. You want the new boiler to have a 90%+ efficiency rating. Boilers with this efficiency may have to be vented through the side of the house. Discuss this with the contractor.

I think the high efficiency boilers (97%+) tend to be expensive and become more complex. It may a good investment for your winters in CT. You may qualify for an local utility rebate. This may offset the increased cost.

I am curious as to why you want to replace your direct water heater with an indirect system? Does your current hot water heater need to be replaced?

Mike, the water heater is 10 years old, and others mentioned that usually even though it is bit more expensive, you will usually get more life out of an indirect system and also there might be some natural gas savings to boot.

Jim

I am not an expert, but my thinking is the indirect system is a lot more expensive than a conventional system. Verify this before making the switch.

There may be some gas savings when the boiler is running, otherwise I don't see any savings. My gut says the indirect may be more inefficient in all other cases. Again do your homework on this.

When faced with replacing my old Hydrotherm boiler and conventional high recovery water heater I went with the most efficient system available. I installed a Triangle Tube prestige solo boiler and a Smart 40 indirect water heater. In our area outdoor resets are going to be required and the Utility company had a cash rebate of $700 on the boiler and $210 on the water heater. The federal govt. gave us a $150 tax credit. This is a condensing modulating boiler that under certain conditions is 95% efficient. When we are not home the water heater may cycle once during the course of the day to reheat the water. I have a Taco zone controller with 4 pumps plus a pump for the indirect. Zone valves could have been used, but I wanted the separate pumps so if one went out the rest of the house would still get heat. It is hard to say how much gas we saved this winter because it was a mild winter. With the outdoor reset the house is much more comfortable on mild days in that the water is heated only to a certain temperature based on the outdoor temp. This is a stainless boiler and not a mass (cast iron) boiler. I know of 3 in operation for years and little or no problems with any of them. This system is used in our area a lot, but maybe not in yours. They are direct vent with pvc piping so that may be an issue for your install. They also require a drain for condensed moisture. I will have to wait for a severe winter to see how much gas is really saved but so far it is working in my favor.

Triangle tube is a good brand for a condensing boiler. But a condensing boiler has a higher upfront cost, and typically a shorter life expectancy that a cast iron boiler.

My personal opinion would be to go with a 80% cast iron boiler. Upfront costs will be considerably less, and they are very reliable.

Especially for this particular person who has stated that venting is an issue.

Agree with all others that sizing is based on radiator surface area output. Has your home had any renovations or additions done? If so, are these areas on the boiler system? Also are you planning any renovations or additions? If so, think ahead and plan for that now when sizing.