Well- as a follow-up... The estimate for a Burnham 288 sq. ft. steam boiler + everything needed to install it- including labor- came to $7300. [It was more, but after 22 yrs. of service, our oil company gave us a $250. 'loyalty credit'.]

This estimate seems a bit high to me.. The 'family-owned' company has now been bought out by a company named 'Star'- does anyone know who they are?

Because of the proposed PUC rate hike for gas, the unknown condition of our chimney, etc.- we'll most likely stay with oil.

Well- thanks for reading this. I wish someone with experience would respond to some of my concerns.

Twiz

It is hard too find any concerns except the price of oil, what are your concerns?

[Big sigh of relief- someone has answered me!]

#1- I kind of need validation that replacing a boiler which is at least [?] 40 yrs. old is worth the money.

#2- Isn't the estimate a bit high?

#3- Should we seriously consider a change to natural gas?

What bothers me most is: I don't KNOW what it is that I need to consider! Having been through this with other house repairs and remodeling, it's what I didn't know that cost me the most money and confusion. Everyone has something to sell. I need some plain talk from people without a stake in my bank account. Does that make sense?

BTW- my oil co. has been telling me for 15 yrs. that our furnace could crack at any moment- 50 gals. of water on the floor & no heat/hot water.

My husband doesn't believe that we will reap the kind of savings the oil co. is promising us... We are planning on staying in this house till they carry one of us out. Sigh.

Thanks!

#1- 40 years old?, over 10 years past due for a cast iron steam according to averages.

#2- Steam is a bit more complex than a water boiler, besides removing that mammoth dirty sooted boiler, most often the smaller foot print boiler required new return piping (hartford loop) new header, asbestos?, new safeties, auto fill, system vents, radiator vents....
Seems in the ballpark to me not knowing everything

#3- I would but N/G is a choice of yours. Oil will continue to go up but still the fuel of choice in the NE states. If your chimmney is bad for gas it can't be good for oil too.

It's not the operating efficiencies here, you may improve by 1-2% though. I'm sure you stand to save alot in fuel as a boiler today closely matched to your Btu's, square foot of radiation and EDR (condensate) will be much smaller thus, less mass to heat to receive heat and less lost due to standby loss after shutdown.

Your planning on staying awhile? Get a new one and releive yourself of one more thing to fail (always at the worst time) and enjoy the payback now.

Right now the price of oil heat is much more expensive than natural gas, but who knows what the future holds. Historically the price of oil and price of gas per BTU is approximately the same, so you may save in teh short run, but in 5-10 years oil may be cheaper than natural gas--it's just a crap shoot.

BTW, ask the oil company how they calculate the 40% savings. If you're getting 80% efficiency already, you're not going to get too much better with a new oil-fired boiler. Even if you get up to high efficiency numbers, you're looking at 10-15% savings.

Overall, I would get bids for gas and for oil and see how big the price difference is. personally I prefer gas since you don't have to deal with the oil company delivery schedule. And I have gas already for a stove.

Hiemert,

In this case it would not be operating savings but Annual (AFUE) that constitutes the savings with the smaller boiler comes less mass, less water, less surface area, and perhaps they are maintaining a low set point temp versus a cold start-up? (Customer stated that oil steam boiler also produces their domestic hot water) Now that is the biggest energy waste! Get a standalone unit to solve that (tank or on-demand).

With efficient steam piping and all the above, I have seen the 40% savings or more, not from the burners but from the system efficiency and wise DHW production.