no one seems to know what they are doing!It is a really old house

9 years ago

I feel as if all the contractors just see me as money pit! sorry. We have ideas all over the place too.
We have oil boiler with baseboard radiators. The system is currently 30+ years old. It has 250,000 btu's.
The first problem is the house has 2 ft thick stone walls with lathe plaster on the interior. The stone is in direct connection with the ground so acts as heat sink. So do we use the area in the walls to size the new furnace? You may laugh but with 2 ft thick walls that is a significant sq ft area. The windows have both exterior and interior storms on them and all of the doors have storm doors on also. There is almost no draft in the house.
We need to replace the boiler , the piping is in good shape and is zoned, so that will be maintained.
We don't know whether to use another oil furnace or a propane. Natural gas is not an option. The oil tanks also need to be replaced.
We have recommendations all over the place.
So first oil or propane?
Best brands of boilers.
Sizing the thing. We know it is over sized, but how much can we reduce it? The sq ft is 4000 including the stone walls.

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Comments (4)

tigerdunes
9 years ago
What is your location?

What do your quoting dealers have to say?

Ask for a load calculation.

What is your cost/gal for oil; what is your cost/gal for propane?

Propane prices normally track oil prices. Of course you can get a high eff condensing propane boiler, but you get more BTUs from a gal of oil than a gal of propane. So you need to understand both efficieny and cost of both fuels to make a fair comparison.

I would think no more than a 125-150 KBTU boiler but that's just an educated guess depending on your location.

If fuel operating costs are close and there might be a chance of nat gas service down the road, I would lean toward propane. Anything about AC?

Just a few rambling thoughts.

IMO
seydoux
Original Author
9 years ago
tigerdunes thank you so much! The reason I am so confused is the load calculations seems to be all over the place. We have gone from 150,000 to 200,00 btu calculations. I went on line myself and seem to have 105,00 heat loss calculation,
Right now 4.12 for heating oil and 3 for propane. We are in climate zone 7 4100 heating hours per year. The biggest dispute seems to be how to calculate the load for the stone construction. Anything would be an improvement over the astronomically high bills last winter, but i want this furnace to last
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tigerdunes
9 years ago
Give me an idea of your location. I don't have time to look up these zones.

Did you get the load calcs in writing on the software letterhead? You should; that way you can make a comparison as far as design temperature used plus possibility of any errors.

Here is a down and dirty fuel comparison. 85% eff for oil, 95% eff for propane.

Cost per 100,000 btu of useable heat

Oil: $3.51
Propane: $3.45

Basically a wash.

Again any chance of nat gas service down the road?

IMO
apg4
9 years ago
Well, since you are a money pit... ;-) here's something else too consider. I swapped over to gas from oil three decades ago. The furnace was tiny compared to the oil-fired behemoth from the fifties. Natural gas - or propane - allows you to cook when the electric power goes out. Does that happen frequently in your area? I've got an 8kw, tri-fuel, standby generator that will run on petrol, propane or natural gas. Going with gas might be something to consider.

Another element in the equation is the age of the oil tank if it's in-ground, as steel tanks have a finite lifetime. Some communities still allow tanks to be pumped dry, then filled with sand to render 'em inert. Proper removal or mitigation gets pricey right quick.

Cheers

This post was edited by apg4 on Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 17:15

no one seems to know what they are doing!It is a really old house

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tigerdunes

seydoux
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no one seems to know what they are doing!It is a really old house

Comments (4)

tigerdunes

seydouxOriginal Author

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apg4

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seydoux
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