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Heating Contractor Oil Furnace Boiler
QUESTION:The people who service my boiler annually tell me that my boiler is worn out and
should be replaced. I've contacted several local companies and had their sales
reps over to discus boiler replacement [house is approximately 30 years old but
at least the blower on the boiler looks newer than the rest of the unit]. Most
of the reps do not recommend high efficiency units ['don't last' or are noisy or
cheap or...].
I have a two-zone baseboard heat, hot water boiler which also supplies domestic
hot water to kitchen and two bathrooms.
If I'm going to purchase a unit, I'd like to get an efficient, good-name
[company that won't be out of business in a year leaving me stranded] boiler
that might actually save me some money on my oil bill.
ANSWER: I would definately recommend a cast iron boiler as vs a steel boiler,
which is what alot of companies try to push. I think most of the "high
effeciency" units are steel. Also, as far as efficiency goes, a new
FURNACE (I said it ... FURNACE .... the whole unit ... boiler, burner,
controls, etc) will be more efficient than a 30 year old model, just on
general principles. Don't let them talk you into down-sizing the boiler
and running it at a higher temperature, which again seems to be something
that many of the sales-types seem to want to do. If you're satisfied with
the performance of your current system, it's probably about right ( Net
heat output, not Gross) One of the major names, such as Weil-McLean (sic)
or American Std are probably safe bets.
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