oil to GAS

[gregm]

My money pit of a house has had some major expenses the last few years. New roof, new front porch and footing(s). And now most recently a brand new steam boiler and hot water heater. I just converted to gas and no longer am using oil which is a dominant heating source in the northeast US. There was an existing natural gas line coming into the street from the house so I was able to utilize that. The gas is SO MUCH QUIETER !!!! To follow are a few pics of the old to the new... ... first pic here is the old oil boiler which was installed in 1986. (when the previous owner converted from gas to oil)

 

[gregm]

oil boiler disconnected ...

You can see to the right, the new hot water tank in place, and now here is a pic of the old boiler disconnected ready to be taken apart and removed.

 

[gregm]

new gas boiler ...

Here are some pics of the new gas boiler with freshly painted floor in the basement as well ...

 

[gregm]

new (2)

another shot, ... ... (ITS SO QUIET !!! !!!) although if it explodes I guess that wouldn't be quiet but hopefully I won't be home or I will be sound asleep and won't notice a thing, hahahahahahahahah

 

[gregm]

new (3)

another shot of both the new boiler and new hot water heater ... ...

 

[gregm]

shot 4

from a distance, new painted floor, basement hasn't look this clean and good since I bought the house four years ago... ...

 

[gregm]

last shot ...

last distance shot from other side ... ... I am so glad I converted to gas !! I can't wait to get a gas dryer and gas stove in the kitchen !! AND, if lose power, I still have hot water !! thats comforting considering the horrific ice storm we had here back in mid DEC '08 which they are still cleaning up from.

 

[polkanut]

And you won't get the soot build-up in the chimney like you do with oil. If you can, sign up for your utility's budget plan, it will save you quite a bit of money in the long run.

 

[gregm]

oops !

OH and in my first Post# 357309-6/15/2009-21:54 I meant to say coming into the house from the street, instead of vice-versa, you all probably got that, LOL !! pppheeew, I am tired and BROKE !!

 

[rickr]

The basement looks great Greg! Oil is more costly than gas, plus gas burns cleaner also.

Hope you save a ton on energy costs next winter!

 

[toggleswitch2]

Great job. Looks like your energy guide tells us its the most energy-efficient unit in its class.

Looks like a manual water fill; is it? I had the electric/automatic fill put on mine.

Hope it saves you money and is reliable for decades to come!

If I may make a suggestion. Please consider geting a gas-fired gravity warm-air console/room heater (vented) for the basment that will proivide heat during a blackout. Has a pilot light and is complelty non-electric. May or may not have a milli-volt wall-mounted thermostat.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Oil is more costly than gas, plus gas burns cleaner also.

Not here. Oil is dirtier and dirtier fuels are usually less expensive.

 

[toggleswitch2]

....and with natural gas one's own electrical generator is possible too!

Vintage gas cooker or a modern one?

 

[gregm]

toggle !!

yes, toggle, I did look into a "non-electric" heater as a backup if I lose power. Thanks for the good point. Thanks Rick !! and yes, polkanut, gas does burn A LOT cleaner and am grateful for the benefits of that as well !! Here I have attached a pic of the ice storm damage down the street from last DEC. Many people were without power for a week to two weeks in central and north central MAss. They literally just finished sweeping my street today of debris.

 

[qsd-dan]

Not here. Oil is dirtier and dirtier fuels are usually less

Yep, my buddy paid a lot less in oil than I did in gas last winter.

 

[neptunebob]

One safety note...

Hopefully, your contractor should have thoroughly cleaned out the chimney before the switch to gas. I read an article where a family was nearly poisoned by carbon monoxide after a gas conversion because all of the soot from the oil burning fell off the inside of the chimney, blocking off the exhaust flue. Also, do they make boilers that are hi efficiency and vent out the side?

 

[gregm]

chimney ... ...

The chimney was cleaned and actually the guy commented on how surprisingly clean it was. I seem to have a naturally strong draft in the chimney as well. I have installed carbon monoxide detectors as well. Between my own research and being told that with a "steam" boiler you really can't expect to get more than 83-85% efficiency simply because you are heating water to the boiling point whereas in most forced hot water systems you are only heating the water to somewhere between 160 and 180 degrees. In that case those boilers tend to rate with a 90% or slightly higher efficiency rating.

 

[a440]

Looks Awesome!

Greg,
You basement looks awesome!
Was your old steam boiler giving you problems? Or you just sick of the high prices?
I love the new system! Looks Tough.....like you bad boy.
You basement looks great!
Thanks for the pictures.
Brent

 

[whirlcool]

I remember my parents house had this humongous "Iron Fireman" furnace in the basement. It took up a ton of space down there. It was oil fired. Eventually they converted it to gas.

Then about 10 years later it needed replacing. The furnace they bought was a rather small box that just hung on the wall next to the hot water heater. It made almost no noise at all and freed up a LOT of space in the basement.

 

[davek]

Safety note

Another safety note is to make sure that your oil filler is at least blocked off and removed if possible. I've lost the link, but I read once about a home that was converted to gas, but the oil filler was still present as a pipe, uncapped, going into the basement. Noone was home when the oil truck came, so they didn't realize that anything was wrong until they had put in enough to fill an empty tank. This literally resulted in the house being written off. No fire or anything occurred, and the family was able to save most of their stuff, but it was not economically feasable to repair the home. You never know when the oil truck might come to the wrong house.

Your basement is cleaner than most people's homes.

 

[countryguy]

Excuse my ignorance, but how is the house actually heated? hot water radiators? hot water radiant baseboards?

Gary

 

[yogitunes]

oil pumped into an non exitisting tank, that happened here in jersey to a friend...they went to the wrong house, pumped in 200 gallons of fuel into the basement, mess doesn't describe it, many years ago and the house is still boarded up! EPA issues even after the clean up...

there are many models out there, I had a TELEDYNE LAARS system at the last house installed, with the WATER JACKET hot water storage, very tiny unit 24X24, and it vented out the back or side depending on how you looked a it, this was installed in a tight crawl space, superb machine.

I love when they install new stuff like this and its so neat and tidy, not an octopuss of wires and pipes making no sense and getting in your way...

I built a "WALL" around mine now with peg board(4ft tall), to keep the kids and pets from getting to the wiring and hotpipes, and the peg board allows for air around the system and you can hang items on it at the same time, this is just an extra measure of safety if needed, and pulls away easily for service if needed, just a thought!

 

[rayjay]

The problem with oil is that it fluctuates so much. Our friends paid approximately in the heating season of 2007 2008 500.00 a month for oil. Now the house is just a standard spile level from the 50's. My gas bills are the time were around 300.00 a month.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Gary,

I believe a steam system was mentioned. These typically have old-fashioned radiators.

Looking at the boiler it is a steam system. One sees the water level gauge, the manual water fill, steam header, the steam riser and the harford loop.

 

[countryguy]

Thanks Toggles, up here in Canada you don't see too many hot water systems although I think they are becoming a little more popular. Normally most homes are gas or oil forced air. Radiant floor heating is also becoming a lot more popular.

Gary

 

[bobbyderegis]

Greg:
I did the same at work with a new Boderus boiler. The bills have been cut more than in half. I hooked up my old Maytags where the oil tank was. No more smell either. I got rid of the hot water tank and put in a 50 gallon SuperStore for the hot water.
Bobby in Boston

 

[andrewinorlando]

In 25 years with a gas boiler when I lived in NYC, never a single problem with it, never a single service call on it except to replace a couple of worn drain valves that had started to drip. It was quiet as a mouse to boot! Loved that aroma of steam in the house when the heat would first start to come up in the mornings.

 

[toggleswitch2]

WIth regard to tweaking the system.

IMHO, the high-pressure limit should be set no higner than 3 p.s.i, and may be able to go as low as the setting in your home where the furthest radiator from the boiler gets hot. (Typically an upper story if there are mutliples.)

Also the pressure difference before cut-in should be high enough such that the boiler doesn't cycle (re-start) too quickly/frequently when the system is full of steam and the gas cuts off.

I too had my fuel bills cut in half when I went from my Homart by Sears from the mid-forties to a new boiler in 2005. I stayed with oil in that I did not want to deal with a gas inspection. The cost for me with a free promotional boiler by the gas company (but I'd have to pay for the plumber) turned out to be the same as a new oil burning boiler, installed.

 

[gregm]

cycling...

I have installed all new vents on each radiator and adjusted accordingly so that they all heat up relatively evenly. I do miss the gold, round honeywell thermostat where you can set an "anticipator" on it (higher for steam systems usually than hot water) so that the boiler does not cycle on and off to frequently or vice versa. Although no such setting on my new programable therm that does still seem to do a good job at maintaining the existing temp. Oil did heat the water "quicker" With a steam system you don't want to "crank up" the therm to high because once that thing gets at "full steam" so to speak and then shuts down, all that residual heat from the radiators is still heating the room, hence the room(s) will get MUCH warmer than your orig setting. That is why I don't have it set for wide swings, 61 at night, I bring it to 62 or 63 in the AM, leave it there all day and then have it come up to 65 in the afternoon til I go to bed. The more even temp you can maintain I think saves energy versus big temp swings from day and night every day.

 

[sudsmaster]

I remember we had an oil fired furnace in the basement of our home in Connecticut. It was noisy if you were in the basement, but I don't recall hearing it upstairs. It was non-forced air ducting. I also remember the HUGE black oil storage tank down there. It was kind of scary to a kid.

All the home heating I've had in California has been natural gas powered. Everything from floor grate heaters (ouch!) to the current forced air system. It's the most economical way to heat out here, but insulating and weatherizing the home can slash heating bills dramatically as well.