Replacing oil fired burner with on-demand LP water heater in forced air system

[socoast]

Would it be possible and more efficient to use an on-demand LP hot water heater, like the Bosch 2400LP? Or, should I just shut off the oil burner when we are away?

I have a 14 year old heating system. It is an oil fired burner, 100 gal hot water tank, and forced air. Hot water flows into copper coils, and air is blown over them to heat, then forced into ductwork and floor vents.(at least I think that's how it works!) It also supplies the household hot water. The burner and boiler are located in an outside attached small room with a 4" vent going up through the roof.

I have 3 heating zones in the house.

The price of oil has tripled, raising my heating bill to $600-$1200 per month in the heating months, for the 175 + gals of oil I use.

I keep my thermostat set to 62 at night and 65 during the day (and hope for solar gain), and only heat 1 zone. But, keeping all that water hot 24/7 is just not possible anymore with oil at $3.40/gal.

There are only two of us, so the domestic water demand is low compared with the hot water for the forced air system. I live in an area that does not freeze in the winter, temperatures rarely go below 40 at night, and almost never go below freezing.

I've got to do something before this oil burner sucks up my savings!

thanks for any advice you have.

[<kjpro]

Rarely below 40, sounds like a heat pump is in order!

[Zyp]

Socoast;

Sounds like a Heat Pump with a COP of 300 would save you a ton of $$$$

Contact your local, licensed professional about the cost of a Geothermal HP or even an air over HP.

[<kjpro]

Since he has a 40 degree temp, the extra cost for a geo would be a waste of money.

[Noon-Air]

A high efficiency air source heat pump will make some serious inroads toward cutting your utility bills. When my customers have me install a new heat pump system, its not unusual for their utility bills to drop 60% or more.

[Bubba]

$600 to $1200 is trippled?? Must be new math.

Sell the house. Move somewhere warm.

By the way, gasoline here is almost at $3.00 a gallon. I dont like it. It is sucking my savings away. Thanks for any advice you have. Bubba

[komobu]

The weather you describe sounds the same as here in Virginia. I had a

18 seer heat pump installed in May of 2006. In Feb this year, our coldest month, my electric bill was 213 dollars. My electric bill during the summer months was about 140 dollars.

Pat

[socoast]

When we built the house, oil was under $1 per gal, so at $3.39 (our last bill) that&#39;s tripled. We live in CA in an area where the winter temps don&#39;t go down to freezing, but the summer temps don&#39;t go above 68-72 on average. Would a heat pump still work?

thanks for all your replies.

[<kjpro]

Oh, your in California. I&#39;m sorry, but H/P&#39;s just don&#39;t work there. They seem to work everywhere else in the country, but there&#39;s something about the California air that just isn&#39;t compatible with H/P&#39;s. I guess you&#39;ll either have to put up with your high utility bills or consider moving. Good Luck

[Bob Pietrangelo]

WHY?

[Bubba]

Ahh for pete&#39;s sake kj. I just power chucked my coffee and puked on the keyboard. Thanks Bubba

[Bob Pietrangelo]

In response to your Hot Water heating question. The on demand water heater would probably be a good bet. The Heat Pump is the way to go (what is your electric rate, what is your propane rate). With the waterheater make sure your water quality is good, and plan on having maintenance on the water heater annually

[socoast]

Thanks for your advice, Bob. We have our own well, with an ozone filter, but no other type.

We are in a very rural area, about 2 hours from a town big enough to have Home Depot/WalMart, and it&#39;s hard to find any qualified HVAC people who are willing to come out to the boondocks.

Our electric rate is about .14/kw (I think), and propane is about the same as the high grade oil our burner uses.

As for those of you suggesting moving from CA, well, as a retired high school teacher, living on a small pension, I wish it was so easy to sell a house and move somewhere else, but houses are not selling very well right now. And where else would we go? Everywhere you need either heat or AC, so we are lucky that we don&#39;t need AC, and only need heat to go from 40 up to 65, not 20 or 0, like most northern places.

thanks

[<kjpro]

Outdoor temp is too close to the ground temp to make much of a difference in efficiency. A couple points added to the COP isn&#39;t going to payback the extra expense for a Geo.

[<kjpro]

As long as you&#39;re current on your minion dues, see Paul for another keyboard. He will to send ya a bill for the postage... you know, postage has gone up to the point where he can no longer subsidize our accounts.

[<kjpro]

Which is *why* I posted that you get a H/P!!!!!!!!

$3.40 fuel oil is costing you $3.06 per 100 K into your home at 80% efficiency. $3.40 fuel oil is costing you $2.72 per 100 K into your home at 90% efficiency.

LP at $3.00 will cost you $4.09 per 100 K at 80% efficiency. LP at $3.00 will cost you $3.63 per 100 K at 90% efficiency.

Electric Heat at 14 cents per kwh will cost you $4.09 per 100 K into your home.

Now, run a heat pump in 65 degree weather with a COP of 3.5 and the cost is $1.17 per 100 K into your home. (62% savings over your current 80% fuel oil)

Or run a heat pump in 45 degree weather with a COP of 3.2 and the cost is $1.28 per 100 K into your home. (59% savings over your current 80% fuel oil)

Or run a heat pump in 37 degree weather with a COP of 3.0 and the cost is $1.36 per 100 K into your home. (56% savings over your current 80% fuel oil)

Now tell me, who wouldn&#39;t like to cut their heating cost in half? Are you on the phone to get a proposal for a new H/P yet? The real question is, if your not, why aren&#39;t you?

[Tekkie®]

posted for all of us...

Geez, he screwed me! He charged me for my replacement, charged me for overnight shipping and sent it by Mexico and I think I got a recycled unit with somebody else chunder... Then to top it off he used hairballs as packing material.

[<kjpro]

Did it work when you received it?

[Tekkie®]

posted for all of us...

How would I know? I am afraid to approach it! I palmed it off at work.

--=20 Tekkie Don&#39;t bother to thank me, I do this as a public service.

[Zyp]

But hey, if you keep the hairballs long enough, could you pass them off as dinasour eggs?