reezekeys
New Member
After searching around I found this great site with very knowledgeable folk so I’m hoping for some good advice. We recently had a little “surprise” after a service call for our oil-fired boiler stopped working – it was condemned! The tech said we risked burning our house down so he shut it down for good, and we’re now needing to shop for a new boiler. Not a great position to be in. We were supplied with a small Rinnai ventless propane heater to get us through while we figure out what to do. I’m amazed what this little guy can do – the whole house is fairly comfortable, although we needed extra blankets during the Thanksgiving cold snap here in the northeast USA.
I would be very grateful for some informed opinions on the two quotes I have so far. The first is from a very established family-run oil company that we used to get deliveries from (they still do our propane). They have worked on our boiler in the past and they were the ones who condemned it.
First thing - the old boiler is a Slant Fin Liberty. The plate has two BTU figures, 117 and 131, this was explained to me but I have forgotten the explanation! This boiler was in the house when we bought it in 2002. It was estimated it to be between 20 and 25 years old. The boiler is strictly for our baseboard heat; we have a separate propane hot water heater.
My first question is regarding our second quote. This is a different company I’m not as familiar with, but they are also well-established, and deliver to many homes in my area. It was a happy customer that recommended them to me. The salesman claimed that an 87K BTU boiler would work fine for my house and that the reason my old boiler was bigger was because “they didn’t make them smaller back then.” He measured the total length of my baseboards, did some calculations and reiterated that I would be fine with 87K. He did offer to install the next bigger-sized unit for another $300. The boiler he quoted for us is a Burnham MPO-86.
Company #1 says you should not go to a smaller burner without doing a heat load assessment. Company #1 wants to install a “Peerless WBV-03 with Beckett burner W/O COIL.” I’m not sure of the BTUs on this one but believe it’s closer to our old boiler.
Our house is a small ranch, total of about 1600 square feet. It was damaged in a fire a few years ago, brought down to studs & beams, and refurbed – it has brand new windows, insulation and a new roof. Basically the entire inside of the house is new (including the baseboards). My utility bills have been much lower since we moved back in. But we are still in the New York City area, which definitely gets some cold snaps in the winter. So would you trust this judgement that an 87K boiler would work? Should I do a heat load assessment? I assume I will use less oil with a smaller boiler so it seems wise to go with that, as long as it can do a good job heating our house.
Ok the hard part: company #2’s quote is $1000 less than #1. $6800 vs $7800. A good buddy of mine whose family business is oil (unfortunately they’re not in my area) said the #1 quote sounded high to him. The #1 company said they do all-new piping “from the ceiling down” as opposed to what company #2 does which is a “slide in” (company #1’s term), meaning they will cut pipes near the old boiler to fit the new one in. Is the all-new piping a major advantage, or is a slide-in considered an OK way to replace a boiler?
I’ll stop here as this is already too long a post! I really appreciate any wise words of advice. Thanks!
I would be very grateful for some informed opinions on the two quotes I have so far. The first is from a very established family-run oil company that we used to get deliveries from (they still do our propane). They have worked on our boiler in the past and they were the ones who condemned it.
First thing - the old boiler is a Slant Fin Liberty. The plate has two BTU figures, 117 and 131, this was explained to me but I have forgotten the explanation! This boiler was in the house when we bought it in 2002. It was estimated it to be between 20 and 25 years old. The boiler is strictly for our baseboard heat; we have a separate propane hot water heater.
My first question is regarding our second quote. This is a different company I’m not as familiar with, but they are also well-established, and deliver to many homes in my area. It was a happy customer that recommended them to me. The salesman claimed that an 87K BTU boiler would work fine for my house and that the reason my old boiler was bigger was because “they didn’t make them smaller back then.” He measured the total length of my baseboards, did some calculations and reiterated that I would be fine with 87K. He did offer to install the next bigger-sized unit for another $300. The boiler he quoted for us is a Burnham MPO-86.
Company #1 says you should not go to a smaller burner without doing a heat load assessment. Company #1 wants to install a “Peerless WBV-03 with Beckett burner W/O COIL.” I’m not sure of the BTUs on this one but believe it’s closer to our old boiler.
Our house is a small ranch, total of about 1600 square feet. It was damaged in a fire a few years ago, brought down to studs & beams, and refurbed – it has brand new windows, insulation and a new roof. Basically the entire inside of the house is new (including the baseboards). My utility bills have been much lower since we moved back in. But we are still in the New York City area, which definitely gets some cold snaps in the winter. So would you trust this judgement that an 87K boiler would work? Should I do a heat load assessment? I assume I will use less oil with a smaller boiler so it seems wise to go with that, as long as it can do a good job heating our house.
Ok the hard part: company #2’s quote is $1000 less than #1. $6800 vs $7800. A good buddy of mine whose family business is oil (unfortunately they’re not in my area) said the #1 quote sounded high to him. The #1 company said they do all-new piping “from the ceiling down” as opposed to what company #2 does which is a “slide in” (company #1’s term), meaning they will cut pipes near the old boiler to fit the new one in. Is the all-new piping a major advantage, or is a slide-in considered an OK way to replace a boiler?
I’ll stop here as this is already too long a post! I really appreciate any wise words of advice. Thanks!
