It seems like you need a condenser of some sort outside with the outlet pointed down so the water drools out on the ground. You can see the problem with that, though. You will have a big slab of ice on the ground in no time. Why is this not a problem with all direct-vent high efficiency furnaces and boilers? The dew point is high and the temp of the exhaust is low. Condensation happens immediately when the humid exhaust hits the cold, damp outside air. One approach that could fix this is to mix outside air with the exhaust very quickly. Run the exhaust into a a chamber with a second inlet and an outlet to handle the combined flow. Tie a blower to the furnace that blows in 10x the amount of outside air compared to the boiler exhaust. You get turbulent flow. With any kind of luck, you will have built a snow machine. The fact remains that lots of people have high efficiency heaters in cold climates and they don't have this kind of Rube Goldberg arrangement or ice palaces outside of their homes do they?

I'm confused a L6000 series aquastat is typically used a a circulator contol If the control has a red reset button, sounds like a circulator aquastat or boiler safety with manual reset feature, either one not used as a boiler operating contol, especially if a new boiler. Is the control inserted into boiler, on the indirect or on the piping? What is the full model number (like L6006E1018) FYI, if the lower setting is adjustable, it is usually done on a white knob in control which is done as a differential. Adjustable from 5-35. set at 20, it is setpoint (180) minus 20 = 160 F on (lower).

Thanks for your responses. I am sorry that I did not respond sooner. I think that I forgot to check the email notification box. Dad seems to have settled down a little. I think that he had in his mind that he needed to decide and get something done before the deadline for signing up for a seasonal budget and pre-paying for the season's oil. That package has worked out well for him in the past. If he needs more oil this fall before he gets a changeover, he can just pay ala carte. He has not missed a bill in 50+ years so the'll pump him some oil and send him a bill. Dad has always been very objective and detached about making decisions about how much to invest in things with respect to his lifespan. Few people can do that. We'll see about the green bananas. It seems like venting may have to go through the original chimney even if we have low temp flu gas from a condensing boiler. I don't think that there is any reasonable way to get out of the basement sideways without landing too close to a window. Then there is the snow depth too. A separate water heater would invoke the same problems, only double. On the unfinished end of the basement outside there are a porch, and breezeway with concrete blocking any access. On the third side is a deck and a sun room full of windows. I guess that there are lots of options for gas heat beginning from a simple burner change through a reasonably efficient gas boiler to a modulating/condensing boiler. If I am reading the existing boiler plate correctly, we'll have about 60% efficiency by plugging in a new gas burner. I hope that someone will confirm that. The least expensive replacement boilers must be about 80% efficient and would run through the same clay-lined flue? Next up would be a condensing boiler that would run in the 90%s. I have no idea what the relative costs might be. We should be good with the honesty factor. It is strictly small-town and contractors need to maintain reputations or they won't last. I've approached a guy that I went to school with that I am already talking with about a backup genset. The oil company probably won't jerk him around, but they may not have the knowledge or the enthusiasm, hard to say. The genset is another story. Dad should not really be hauling out the 4 kW Coleman and stringing extension cords for sump pumps and the waste water lift pump any longer. NYSEG is good, but with power failure he can't run any water since the septic went away in favor of a village sewer system.

Everyone, Once again thank you for all your very helpful comments that you gave me this past May. As "heating" season is going to start soon here in the Northeast, I will be again relying on my gas boiler again. Since the last posting here, I had a professional come out here to clean & inspect the boiler, double check the chimney (he stuck a mirror into it and we both saw daylight) and he proclaimed the unit in perfect working condition. The Pro did advise me on two things that I wish to run by you all for further opinion, lf you don't mind. 1) The Pro advised (he has over 30 years of experience) that I should get a "better quality" spill switch than the one that I currently am using. The one I have (and already changed 2 times) is the one that is made specifically for this unit (rated at 210F): http://www.supplyhouse.com/Weil-McLain-510-300-013-Spill-Switch-w-Reset-210-F He said I should get a better quality one made by Field Controls, something like: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Field-Controls-GSK-4-200-Gas-Spillage-Sensing-Switch-w-Manual-Reset or even http://www.supplyhouse.com/Field-Controls-FTS-6-180-Safety-Switch-w-Manual-Reset-120-240V Now, my question is this: Since my Weil-McLain EG-45 SPDN unit is rated at 210F, and I will put a spill switch that is 200F or even 180F rated, is that okay? The Pro did confirm that my existing spill-switch location is in the right spot and that I do not need two of them for my type of a unit. 2) As far as the Vent-Damper (to remind, I installed a brand new one last winter, made by Field Controls). The Pro said that he would just leave it in MANUAL mode. When I asked him about the danger of having "bad gasses" leakage into the house, he stated that the boiler will shut itself off as there are other protection sensors there and that this AUTO function is now included into the Vent-Dampers more for better efficiency of the unit than for safety. Is he right? I should also add: a) I do have a 4" clean-air going into the boiler room directly from the street (boiler room being a closed-off section with 2 doors, with two return 20 inches x 8 inches ventilation grille's that have the air escape into the rest of the basement). The actual room measures 6 feet long x 7 feet wide x 8 feet high and only contains the gas hot water heater and the gas boiler. b) On the advice of the Pro, I tried turning on the heat (via my Thermostat) a number of times during the summer's hot & humid days (it was like 80F in the room, so I had to set the Thermostat manually to 82F). The unit started-up every time without problems and I let it work for 5 mins or so before turning it off. The Pro said that during the very humid days that the heavy air that gets trapped in the chimney could force the Vent-Damp to trigger the spill switch. It never did. I await your comments. Thank you again in advance for your time and knowledge.