leaky oil burner considering replacement

[john, carmel, ny]

Hi all, I'm brand new to this hub, I'm also in a bit of a bind. My 27 year old base board water, oil burner with a domestic hot water coil is leaking water from the bottom of the unit from the heating part of the boiler.

I rarely use this boiler to heat the house anymore, I burn firewood 95% of the time, but being in NY, anytime we are out for the day in the winter, I backup my wood heat with my oil heat. I use this burner to heat domestic water though, we shut this unit off after showers and burn minimal oil (170 gallons/year).

I have a smart electric meter, I pay 1/2 price for nighttime electricity so I'm considering installing a 40-50 gallon Electric water tank that I would run over night, shutting it off during premium electric rate times, and an inexpensive oil burner to heat the house the 5% of the time we would need it.

I'm fairly good at sweating pipes and I'm hoping to do all this myself. I do as much around my house myself as possible, Years ago, I rezoned my heat for further savings, bedrooms on one zone, living area on another... etc....

Has anyone gone this route? would it pay to use electric instead of oil? Is it wise for me to attempt installation myself?

Thanks in advance for any advise you can offer.

john

[RBM]

Nothing wrong with an electric water heater, but 40 or 50 gallons may be too small if you only want to run it at off peak hours. Typically 80-120 gallon are used. It all depends upon the size of your family, and if you have teenagers.You'll need to stop at the HD around the corner and get a water heater time clock to prevent it from coming on during the day

>

[Stormin Mormon]

Do a google search on Usenet, and Eternal-September.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"john, carmel, ny" wrote

Are you getting the wood for free? If so, it is difficult to do anything really economical with the minimal oil you use. OTOH, if you are paying for wood, it may be cheaper to heat with oil using a much more efficient burner. I installed a System 2000 by Energy Kinetics about two years ago and my oil consumption went down by 39%. I can't buy firewood cheap enough to save money, nor do I want to do the labor of cutting it myself at those prices.

One big advantage of my system is the way it heat water. it uses an indirect tank and heats the water with a heat exchanger. It holds 40 gallons of water and keeps it hot for a long time. It is far cheaper that anything I can do with electric. It also has a fast response time so it can make heated water faster than any shower or dishwasher uses it. 230 gallons first hour.

I think you may be disappointed with only a 40 or 50 gallon reserve in your proposed setup. If you are using 170 gallons of oil a year, a more efficient boiler can easily cut that to less than 100 gallons, but saving 70 gallons is only a couple hundred bucks. Difficult to justify a $5000 to $7500 system. If you stop using wood for any reason, that savings can pay for it.

[john, carmel, ny]

responding to

john, carmel, ny wrote: Hi Ed, Thanks for the post, No, I dont get the wood for free, I get a load of

60-75 logs delivered each winter for $750, I cut and cplit this and get about 8-10 cords of wood from this of which I burn 6-7 cords. I enjoy this work, but someday I will need to stop or at least slow down and that is why your post interested me so much. I visited the Energy Kinetics site, they seem to have a very impressive system. What is the maintenance on those 2000 systems? It seems that if the exhaust is cool and at times out the side of the house, soot is no longer an issue? Is the $5000-$7500 a ball park for what you paid? How many zones do you have and was there any extra work needed? I'm very interested in this, I filled out the form to be contacted, but my curiosity makes it difficult to wait till they call.... Thanks, John

[Stormin Mormon]

The Homeowners Hub site is not a help forum, it's an

*advertising* forum that invades real forums (like "alt.home.repair", part of "usenet") parasitically in order to generate free advertising for itself, which continually advances its search engine placement, thereby increasing its own revenue through its click- through advertising commissions.

So the first thing you should do is write them an email and tell them to quit spamming.

Then try to find your way here through proper channels. Please do a google search on "Usenet" and post the regular way.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"john, carmel, ny" wrote

The only maintenance so far is the usual cleaning every 1000 gallons or so.

The installed cost was $7200. Two zones, 40 gallon hot water tank, new oil line from the tank, wiring, hauling away the old unit, etc. No extras.

They did install an air intake on the side of the house. The exhaust for mine is up the stack, but they can be put on the side if there is no existing flue.

The installation was minimal hassle. They delivered everything one day. An installer came the next day to trim the boiler. The next day they cut the lines and replaced the old one, hooked up the new boiler and fired it up. The house did not really cool down much at all in the couple of hours it took. They were amazingly neat and professional. The old oil line under the slab was abandoned, a common practice now to prevent future contamination.

$500 state rebate

0% financing by the state for 10 years $1500 federal tax credit Fuel savings of about 400 gallons a year. That makes the monthly payments. My out of pocket is $0 and I have more hot water than ever.