Best Oil Fired Boiler for Water

 
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Rob R.
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Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Mon. Jun. 06, 2016 6:13 am

mof1964 wrote: Any other reputable boilers out there?
There are lots of good boilers, more important is that you get a good installer, and hopefully there is a supply house in your area that stocks parts. Buderus makes great equipment. Biasi is very nice as well - there is a man in my local area that installs them and the folks running them seem to be very pleased. Slant Fin, Weil McLain, etc, I think they all work well if setup properly.

Don't forget about EFM and Axeman Anderson. They both make excellent steel boilers. You may want to consider contacting a local EFM dealer and seeing if they are interested in your 520. Perhaps they would be willing to remove it and give you some $ towards a new oil boiler. You could always install a second Chubby in the basement if the price of oil goes nuts. Keep in mind that if you get a new & efficient oil boiler, your wife will probably be even less excited about restarting the 520.

The Energy Kinetics System 2000 unit would probably be the most efficient out of all the units mentioned. They are very low mass, and the control purges the residual heat out of the boiler after every heat call. The up front cost may be more, but you would probably get it back in just a few years.

 
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plumberman
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Location: andes ny
Stoker Coal Boiler: coal gun 130
Coal Size/Type: pea
Other Heating: solar dhw/samsung mini split/oil

Post by plumberman » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 6:17 pm

just to mix things up, wall hung biassi propane boiler, endless hot water, direct vent, no oil tank worries. chubby is doing most of the heat load. find you're own propane tank so there is no rental fees. just food for thought :idea:

 
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lsayre
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Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
Location: Ohio
Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Tue. Jun. 07, 2016 7:05 pm

If you are going to divert this oil boiler discussion to small 'hang me on the wall' direct vent propane boilers, I recently considered this one, which provides for both home heating and DHW, and has an amazing 95% AFUE (Gross output?) rating. On the space heating side it provides 14K to 80K BTUH, and on the DHW side it provides an astounding 14K to 150K BTUH range (sufficient BTU's to heat roughly 3.5 GPM from 50 degrees to about 130 degrees by my calculations).

http://us.navien.com/Product/Page1/Details/NCB-180?Category=NCB%20series


 
mof1964
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Joined: Sun. Dec. 28, 2008 4:24 pm
Location: Denver Pa
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Coal Chubby

Post by mof1964 » Wed. Jun. 08, 2016 6:41 am

we have looked into the natural gas route. The gas lines end approx. 1 -1/2 blocks from our house.
I talked with UGI a couple times and they tell me if I am willing to pay $47,000 they will run the gas lines down the street and into the house.
so we decided that natural gas is not a viable option for us.

At this time we don't want a propane tank outside the house. We already have an oil tank in the basement full of oil.

over this past weekend we switched over to the oil boiler. It didn't want to run but I had our plumber/heating guy come service/clean the unit and we are up and running.
this week school lets out and we will be on the run with summer vacations etc. so the fact that we don't have to let the fire burn out in the stoker and restart when home or empty ash is something looking forward to. My basement is also cooler which very well may cut our cooling costs in the summer. Our first floor floors were always very warm.
I do have a dehumidifier running in the basement to take out any humidity.

I have also considered switching out the boiler top of the 520 and installing a boiler top that will allow the install of the oil gun. I believe that a stand alone unit is probably more efficient than going this route.

 
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plumberman
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Posts: 264
Joined: Sun. Apr. 14, 2013 2:45 am
Location: andes ny
Stoker Coal Boiler: coal gun 130
Coal Size/Type: pea
Other Heating: solar dhw/samsung mini split/oil

Post by plumberman » Wed. Jun. 08, 2016 5:46 pm

2nd train of thoughts, sticking with oil peerless pin style boiler or biassi 3-pass style boiler mid to upper 80's in efficiency, simple beckitt burner and honeywell controls? basically a bullet proof freight train that any service truck would have parts on to get you up and running in no time if their was a problem. no circuit boards from france when it 20 below zero and the wind is howling if you know what I mean. by the way this is what I have for a primary back up if there is a problem with the coal gun, plain simple and good. 25years old and runs as good as day one. nothing bad to say about high tech boilers/burners but you pay a premium and they don't last as long, so be careful about your payback. good luck and always look at all options :D

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