I trying to judge if I should take advantage off the rebate on the new federal rebates on upgrading heating systems of a max of $1500 bucks. need an opinion on should I upgrade my boiler earlier than I have to, to get a rebate and save money on winter heating bills?
Here is the present stats;
Weil-Mclain boiler [going on 18 tears old] HE-5 , 133000 BTU/HR
I pay.089 pr/kwh in my area
My last PM my heating guy says I am getting about high 70% effiency
live in western new york with a long heating season!
My question is would a new upwards of 90%furnace save me enough money to make a furnace switch early with the rebate
Thanks for the help
Edited 4/12/2009 12:26 pm ET by daveytree
Replies
How much do you spend on heat in a year and how much is your new system going to cost?
take the amount your house cost to heat x .75 (efficiency of current system)=the number of BTU's it actually took to heat your house (measured in dollars but who cares.)
So take that number and divide by your new efficiency--.90. That's what it would have cost if you had the new boiler.
Then the cost of the new system divided by the above number would give you the number of years it would take pay for the upgrade.
Edited 4/12/2009 1:24 pm ET by Marson
"Weil-Mclain boiler [going on 18 tears old] HE-5 , 133000 BTU/HR
I pay.089 pr/kwh in my area"
I am very confused.
While energy is energy and in theory kWh can be the unit for any kind of energy but most commonly used for electrical energy. And the 0.089 does sound like the cost of electricity.
But if you had an electrical boiler you have 100% efficiency.
Then you talk about getting a new furnace.
Most commonly the term furnace is used for force air systems and boiler for hot water/steam.
So I don't know if you are talking about replace a boiler system with maybe a force air and heat pump?
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
So what do you pay for oil????
The price KWH means nothing unless you have an electric boiler and those operate ate just shy of 100% efficiency.
Count me confused.
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You need to give some more info, you are confusing. I also have a WM HE-5, mine is fired by NG.
One thing to do is have a professional do a accurate heat loss, 133,000 BTU is a big boiler!! What are you heating, bigger is not better!!! Use some of the other energy credits to tighten up the envolope and maybe you can down size that boiler!!!
Fine tuning the system to run more efficently.
Changing the boiler just for the fun of changing the boiler is not the best way to attack the problem. Deal with as a complete package.
Make a lean, mean, heating machine!!
I am confusing when its not my ''gig'' I know how to use a hammer instead of nail gun though , the house is a ''ranch' style house [ with a 250 sp ft room tucked in the rafters up stairs 2200 total sq.ft.2 x 6 walls , anderson windows that have been replaced already [warranty] 20 plus inchs attic insulation , natural gas heat , 3 zones for heating , 1 zone for the hot water tank , we pay balanced bill of $185 month for 12 months , Thoses other figures on the first blog I just threw in for glamoreThanks guys
Assuming the price of gas, the weather and the insulation and general air tightness of your house doesn't change, you currently spend $2220 per year for gas.Adjusting for the change from a 75% efficient to a 90% efficient system:$2220 x .75 / .9 = $1850or a savings of $370 per year.Does that savings with the tax credit make the change worthwhile, that you will need to figure for yourself.Your basic boiler generally has a pretty long life, 50 years is not uncommon so it most likely is not like you are replacing the boiler a year or two before you would need to any ways.The efficiency that you will get with a new boiler is highly dependent on its operating temperature. You didn't say what type of heat distribution system you use. If it is a radiant floor system which operates near 100F will allow a good condensing boiler to operate near 95% efficiency. If you have air handlers or baseboard heaters that are designed to work with a boiler set at 180F, a new boiler will not be able to operate in condensing mode much which will make the high efficiency boiler operate at closer to 80% efficiency.
Kurt,Exellent info makes sense, 5 year payback, thats why I love this site ,you guys are greatThanks