Oil boiler recommendations?
DawterNature
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Hi there fellow Mainer. Yesterday, I tried to start a thread on options for oil burner for my place in Maine and for some reason it never comes up when I log on. However a couple guys have found it. Would love to know what you think as you are so familiar with the subject.
As an aside, I was caretaker in Harpswell ME for the wife of the orig. Burnham Co. didn’t know they made household size boilers.
thanks for your time
Replies
Greetings Dawter,
Pif seems out to lunch at the moment however,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
Peach full,
easy feelin'.
Arts and Entertainment, eh? Tell me more.thanks for answering my pathetic post.I read countless input for this or that toilet but do you think I can get some idea on what boiler/furnace people I respect, respect?Another thing, it's amazing how much you guys will write on subjects interesting you, even when it goes way left field.I am sincere in my inquiries because you guys should know what's what regarding a home.I wear several hats. I am a personal "chef." A landscape designer and gardener. A novelist and journalist. I see few opportunities to contribute my thoughts on anything on this forum. But....This place I'm building of mine is super important. I want to talk nuts and bolts, steak and baked spuds. What in hell am I doing wrong? For XXXX's sake don't say it's cuz I'm a female - impossible to take seriously. Or else.
DearHeart DawterNature,
Have your Breaktime cyber travels ever taken you to the Woodshed Tavern where your list of non-construction abilities would be most welcome?
Peach full,easy feelin'.
Nope. Not much into self promotion. But I welcome any dialog. will check it out. thanks for responding. Have a good day.
Thanks for mentioning Woodshed Tavern. How do I get there? I'd love to get in on the discussions but I don't know my way around here. Right now I have cabin fever, stuck as I am in South Florida and itching to get back to ME to measure and plan and organize and all that jazz. Tavern chat may help ease my winter blahs.Have a good day.
I see ya reeled in another one...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
There's this lady here with cabin fever in Florida. I don't know how that could be possible except it must be she's a real serious Maine'er :o)
Anyhow, here's another Tavern request coming at you... 101505.21
Peach full,easy feelin'.
"A novelist and journalist. I see few opportunities to contribute my thoughts on anything on this forum. But...."
rez is always looking for a good novella companion
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
My guy uses New Yorkers.
I don't have the knowledge to recommend one over the other. The thing to do is find REPUTABLE guys in your area and get them to recomend, size and install. You want them tpo have a history so they are still around to service it.
I'm thinking Weber Energy. I have had them recommend other guys when they can't get to it themselves.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
I believe New Yorker is a private label brand for Burnham. I have one.
The burners are aluminized steel vs stainless and there is a different ignition type. Mine's a sparker, I don't remember what's on the Burnham. Other than that, same. Same cast iron heat exchangers.
600 cheaper a few years ago but no cool blue Burnham jacket.
Outside air temp monitor so it adjusts the water temp as needed.
I am a Buhnam fan, not that I am qualified to say one brand is better than another,but when I had a burnam installed by a sub and had a problem with it leaking between the sections, and the sub wasn't any help, one call to Burnam and all problems were taken care of quickly and professionally.
I have speced Burnam on all my jobs since.
Thanks for your recommendation. glad to know Burnham makes residential units. For years, I worked for the family who started the company. If I wind up going with them, I know they'd get a kick out of it. Found some info via Google too.Really is key to trust installer and servicemen, esp. in an area away from big city. Otherwise, it's kinda like buying a used Jag or Citroen and hoping to find a mechanic to get it running properly when troubles arise.Are you a GC? I see you recommend Burnham on jobs. I'll let you know when I tell my trusted partner in project info I've gathered. Thanks again.
We have a Buderus boiler w/ a Carlson burner installed 3 yrs. ago. The combination is very efficient as oil furnaces go, but it was finicky for air. We now have an external supply to provide makeup air to the furnace. (works fine now).
Our oil provider (who we've called several times before having the dedicated makeup supply plumbed) noted that the Buderus / Carlson was an odd combination.
I'd ask your local vendor first.
I've been installing Energy Kinetics System 2000 boilers for twenty years. They are low mass and about as efficient as you can get.
Looking at AFUE ratings doesn't tell the whole story. System 2000 has features built into it that are options on other brands.
Maine is a good market for System 2000, my rep lives near Sebago. Go to their site and ask for their DWD.
There will be the usual cast iron vs steel boiler arguments. But, lets say for example it's summer and you just took a shower using ten gallons of hot water. The hot water tank needs to replenish. The boiler starts to warm up. Does it make sense to heat up 400# of cast iron + 12 gal of water to make ten gals of hot water. Plus, on most systems, the circulator pump will start right away - taking heat from the hot water tank and heating the boiler water- reverse heating. A System 2000 will wait 'til the boiler is up to 140 before allowing it to circulate. The System 2000 weighs 160# and holds 2.5 gals of water. It also has a post-purge built into it's control. It will be up to temperature, replenish the tot water and be post purging before the cast iron boiler is up to 140.
When i built my own house back in 86, I had a S2000 installed. The co that installed it was my oil supplier, and i was very happy, it was stingy with the oil and very quiet.
Then one of the bigger oil companys bought out my local guy, service dept was then 10 times the size... so at the next time I needed service, it never ran correctly again. Then it used LOTs of oil, and always smelled. Several trips out from different sevice techs never fixed it and one day I came home to a basement full of soot. I finally got a guy from another company to look at it, said the previous co had overridden the puff switch and some other safties , and basicly the unit was wasted. That is when I switched to a Burnham with a Beckett burner, just about anyone can work on that.
I go through about 1000 gallons of oil per year with the buhnam, the S2000 used about 900.
Moral of the story is if you are gonna get anything out of the ordinary, better make sure you have the service to back it up.
There isn't really much out of the ordinary about the System 2000 except for the "jelly role" heat exchanger and the manager. Problem is, techs these days need to have the latest instruments to set up the burner. I compare it to trying to tune a modern day auto with a timing light and a screwdriver - it can't be done. The puff switch is a safety to shut the boiler down in case of a problem. Too bad they didn't have the knowledge to service your boiler. They're one of the easiest to service.
I am going to switch to Buderus soon myself
they have a computerised unit that montors inside and outside temps
my elect contractor has one and loves it.
The Ecomatic Control is the only way to go if you go Buderus. Also Reillo oil burner. But it would be my second choice.
I've used the Ecomatic Control with indoor room monitor, outdoor reset and constant circulation on old houses.
Understand though that outdoor reset works great until you want to raise the temperature quickly. You can get the same advantages with any boiler by using a Taco EXP control.
Check this out: http://www.energykinetics.com/savings.shtml
my electrican used a relay system on install also
he said he has no problem with raising the temp on the thermosats.
but most people would no how he hooked it up. i not sure how it works.i was also told that you should put the indoor temp sensor in the coldest room in the house.i couldnt find a price on the unit you were talking about also not sure if its the right one since the web site isn't the greatest.
"i couldnt find a price on the unit you were talking about also not sure if its the right one since the web site isn't the greatest."
At first I thought you were saying that their boiler must be no good because their web site isn't. Then I figured you must be saying that there isn't enough information. Request a DVD!
You need to call a dealer to get a price. Go to some home shows, get some referrences and even look at some installations. All installations are not alike.
Burnhams are a POS. The burnhams for steams are one of the worst on the market, my friend has replaced about 30 of them on warranty within the last 3 years. The key with the warranty too is that burnham only warranties the boiler, not the labor to remove the old and install the new and all the other fittings, valves, pumps, etc. needed. For water rather than steam the are ok but certainly not something you would want. If your looking for a basic boiler, weil mcclain gold is very dependable. I would recommend you look at the Buderus though, for a few hundred more you get the most efficient oil boiler on the market (viessmann is right there too). Depending on your situation, check out the buderus 115 and the 215 and you can add on the electronic controls with outdoor temp monitoring. The most efficient burner to run on it is the riello but most oil company service departments don't stock parts for those in their trucks, and I'm right outside Boston, so it will certainly be worse up there. Slightly less efficient is the Beckett NX, and you can use the other basic Beckett too.
We just had a Burderus delivered today, my buddy and I will put it in next weekend to replace a pretty efficient ultimate that is 28 years old. My buddy works for a large oil company outside boston, so I get things through him at his companies cost (you'll certainly get jacked, since all the oil companies market up everything A LOT). We bought a Buderus 115/34 with the basic logamatic control, beckett NX burner and a 53 gallon megastor indirect. We are heating about 3000 sq ft with two unico hydro air units and one zone of baseboard for the basement. The 34 is slightly oversized but we'll just down fire it but I wanted the extra capacity to keep up with a two person whirlpool and a shower with body sprays plus we might add a heater for the garage at some point. The cost was about $3000. I think the boiler was $1150, plus $665 for the beckett NX, the basic buderus control was $267 and the indirect $800. That is the cost for a large oil company, in ME, the oil companies probably don't do enough business with the supply house to get those prices but argue with them anyways. For our situation with the hydro air, indirect and baseboard the electronic buderus logomatic was not worth the $800 cost since the savings would be minimal. You situation might be different though and the savings might be substantial with a short pay off period.
If your stuck on the burnhams, the MPO is the best one they have. It's similar to the buderus just more money and not quite as good. The other burnhams are POS.
http://www.buderus.net/OurProducts/OilFiredBoilers/G115/tabid/87/Default.aspx
UR MY HERO! Thanks so much for giving me so many details. Budurus seems very popular and from here, looks like the one I should most consider.My affiliation with the Bowden family (Burnham boilers) was just one of those coincidences that I get a kick out of it. I am always for finding out all one can about a product and purchasing the best I can afford. I have no allegiance to the Burnham brand and very much appreciate your opinion.My brother retired from GE and my Ex worked for Honeywell - didn't mean we stuck with all their products.The heating system & installation/maintenance is the MAJOR outlay of money this year, plus I have to find a terrific wood stove for cellar, and some kind of aux. heat for "3rd" floor - so am unable to get the kitchen I spent months designing perfectly. Some times practicality beats out creativity and good looks. Damn. But I'll get by with a microwave, fridge and electric skillet plus a grill for the deck I hope to get one day.thanks again for your advice. If you ever have any questions about recipes, outdoor plantings or kitchen design hints, feel free to ask.