Heating Help

Gas Conversion

I have an 11 year W-M gold oil fired boiler with coil for hot water, and gas is coming in the next 60 days. I had 2 contractors come for estimate with one recommending replacing everything and that a conversion burner will be a mistake. The other seems fine with just doing the conversion. Any recommendations would be appreciated     

A conversion burner done right

is a good choice. Which burner was he going to use?

done right

good luck with that part.

conversion

Carlin EZ gas is the burner both talked about. OnehHeating guy said that boiler was getting old and money better spent on going new, and coil would not be adequate for hot water using gas. The other says "no problem" 

The EZ-Gas would be my choice too

it shouldn't affect the coil, but adding a booster tank or switching to an indirect would be an improvement- more hot water for less money. 

coil would not be adequate for hot water using gas.

I am not a heating contractor, but I am prejudiced against coils anyway. I favor indirects mostly, and that is what I have.

But I do not understand why oil or gas would make any difference in the decision of whether you use a coil, an indirect, or a separate water heater. I mean other than price of the fuel, a BTU is a BTU and if you get enough of those per hour, it seems to me that a coil could heat hot water no matter how the water around it got hot enough and maintained it long enough, and the coil were big enough.
So these days, it seems to me that gas is a cheaper fuel to heat hot water (or an entire house), but who knows what the ratio between oil and gas will be next year? or the years after that?

gas conversion

Most utility companies provide discounted boilers, price difference between burner and complete boiler is a few hundred dollars, considering need for chimney to be lined, and fact that most of the contemporary boilers come with damper and electronic ignition. i would go with complete boiler replacement. indirect heater will be very economical way for domestic hot water production. also burner has moving parts and this is more things to break.

My Take On Conversion Burners

If the installing contractor is willing to take the responsibility of taking over the remainder of your boiler warranty and the investment is better then go for it. Just remember you void the mfg warranty on the iron once you convert. Your putting a burner on a boiler that was not mfg approved.

Not always

and in the case of Weil-McLain, it depends on who answers the phone when you call to ask about it.

I believe David Sutton installs W-M Golds with gas burners from scratch, and as far as I know has had no issues.

And of course Tim McElwain has converted boilers for over 40 years, and has never had a problem.

Regarding gas companies providing boilers at discounts- the ones they provide that I've seen are usually the absolute cheapest, least efficient boilers they can find. You'll get better efficiency by putting an EZ-Gas in your Gold.

Decided to go new

We have decided to go new for a couple of reasons. Now it is time to decide on a contractor and brand. I have heard mentioned Triangle Tube, Viessman, Burnham, HTP, and Peerless for condensing boilers. Does anyone have any experience / opinions about any of these?  

boiler of choice

Viessmann

Can You Tell Us

More about your project. How many sqft of heating space? How many zones? Are we doing domestic hot water also? What are the heat emitters? What are your expectations? While we don't talk pricing we can talk about the budget, what is your thinking as to job cost? How long do you plan on staying in the home?

Forget about boiler efficiency, is system efficiency important to you?

Can You Tell Us

More about your project. How many sqft of heating space? How many zones? Are we doing domestic hot water also? What are the heat emitters? What are your expectations? While we don't talk pricing we can talk about the budget, what is your thinking as to job cost? How long do you plan on staying in the home?

Forget about boiler efficiency, is system efficiency important to you?

system needs

1600 sqft house, 2 zones planned, reasonably insulated, window replaced over the years, etc. Our plan is not going anywhere for 10 years or more. I found a heat loss worksheet and tried to working it through and ended up with around 80k need. We have cast iron baseboards in all rooms ,except one which was changed to modern baseboard which works inconsistently on current 1 zone system, therefore the need to add a zone for that room, unless there is an alternative solution. Hot water is a coil in our current oil fired system which really has not created any significant problems over the years. Looking for well made system that is reliable, easy to service, etc.. We were thinking of adding indirect hot water, however have been given the suggestion of an instant hot water system as an alternative. Thanks for any suggestions     

system needs continued

If we are investing in a new system, will most likely go high efficiency  

Suggestions

Heat loss is mighty high, suggest you take another look. I have a little over 1700 sqft and mine is 37k with only R11 in the walls. I'd spend the money and get rid of the fintube board and replace it with cast iron instead of creating an additional zone.

As for the boiler, Buderus is out because of its alum heat exchanger. The Purefire and Alpine both use the same Giannoni heat exchanger but a different control platform. Like the Alpines control better. It's troubleshooting portion of the software makes it a breeze to identify issues. The Vitodens has the best warranty on its own Viessmann made HX which may not mean much to you since your out in 10 years and is in my opinion a better product then the others.

Thanks for info

I have bee trying to find a heating guy who installs and service Viessmann in my area. The Ct distributor for Viessmann gave me names of 2 Supply Companies to ask who is working with Viessmansn. When I call, it sounds like they hardly sell any of them.  

Where Are

You in CT. Should be able to easily find you a Viessmann Partner contractor.

Southern Ct

We are in Milford, just west of New Haven