Oil Heating - New Furnace dealers

[SteveA]

Hi all..

A little help please. I'm looking at replacing my furnace. The current set-up is oil fired, forced hot water, three zones. Hot water from the furnace with a storage tank.

The system is at least as old as the house, 36 years. We have replaced the "burner" several times.

I keep hearing ads on the radio and TV for newer more efficent burners and furnaces.

My question is, has anyone upgraded to any of the newer burners/funaces, and what was the resulting savings?

Any local dealers/installer info also needed.

Thanks

[DRH]

Steve - we replaced our oil-fired heating system about 10 years ago, replacing a 1950s vintage Sears Roebuck forced hot air furnace with a 4-zone forced hot water system. Fred Fuller Oil Co. in Laconia did the job. We opted for a high-efficiency "System 2000" by Energy Kinetics. That type of system has a stainless steel boiler which is hot only when heat is called for; otherwise it remains cold and the burner doesn't run. The boiler is designed to hold only a small amount of water so it heats up very quickly when the burner fires. We heat our two-story house, including hot water, with about 600 gallons of oil per year.

Fuller did an excellent job on the installation. One of our neighbors is a retired home heating oil dealer in MA who also did installations, and when he saw the job Fuller did on our system he commented that it was one of the best "installs" he had seen.

I just checked last year's annual maintenance service tag and the unit was evaluated at 86% efficiency. We are very satisfied with this system.

[boat_guy64]

Steve,

I went through this last fall. After wanting to spend my money locally and calling several plumbers in the Meredith area that claimed that they were interested in the installation, one of them finally showed up after two missed appointments and then never delivered an estimate.

I called Irving and they showed up on time, installed on time and I used 20% less gas than the previous year. I have 3 zones and they cleaned up all of the old work, put in a fresh new everything and the system works great. I have one of the systems that integrates the hot water tank into the system and I haven't been able to run it out of hot water. (Unlike my old system)

It used to sound like a diesel truck was running in my basement and now you can barely hear it running even when you stand along side of it.

[Smitty1]

Give Phil Cowels a call

603-520-6192

I highly recommend him. Great service at a fair price.

He was with Stafford for many many years and just went out on his own this year.

Smitty

[SteveA]

DRH..

Funny thing.. Fuller is my oil dealer. They sent a guy to the house this morning. His sales pitch was for the same System 2000.

They left me a video, and a price. :eek::eek: ( $6400 if I buy before 6/1.. after that $7400) :confused:

It does make sense.. He explained that my present system requires that the "boiler" maintains 180 degrees 365 days a year. (That explains the system coming on every 30-45 minuets even when all the theromstats are off).

Frankly, the thing that bothered me was that they have been selling me oil, and servicing this older system for more than 15 years, with never a mention of a more efficient way to heat my home. I've used more than 1400 gallons per year for a home, that sounds like about the same size as yours. (My current system is three zones; he explained that he would need to add a fourth zone to handle the 40 gallon hot water tank)

Thanks for the info. I'm going to look around for other dealers for a "System 2000" type setup. I'll have more than a little problem giving the job to Fuller, without a rather large discount for not having told me about this years ago. ;);)

Smitty,

I'll give Phil Cowels a call. Prior to Fuller, I used Stafford. I only left them when Fuller's price for oil, and prebuy programs beat Stafford.

Boat Guy.

Thanks for the response, but to switch to "gas" would mean propane for me. Everyone I talk to tells me that is way more expensive than oil. But, everyone is sometimes wrong.. I'll check it out! :)

[secondcurve]

Steve:

You should also try Terry Bihel (sp?). He is an independent that advertises in the Grunter. He worked for Wolfeboro Oil for many years before striking out on his own several years back. Good luck!

[jetskier]

I would call Aaron Thibeault 603 738 1393

Aaron is reasonable and does exemplary work. Since he is a small business, he does all the work himself so you know that you are getting quality.

We replaced the oil furnace at the condo (the condo is for sale :D) last year with a Thermo Pride. Thermo Pride is the best oil furnace on the market. Our new house is propane; propane is cheaper than oil but you will need to add a propane tank.

My brother in law installed a furnace that uses both oil and wood chips. My understanding is that wood chips are by far the cheapest. He uses a bag of wood chips a day and the oil system runs if you run out of wood chips. I heard that wood chips are extremely popular in Europe.

[Steve Atwood]

Steve A

Give Foley Oil Company a call they are a System 2000 dealer.

Steve

[fatlazyless]

Does anyone in the area install Riello oil burners, along with a standard hot water boiler on a two or three zone system? What local heating contracter goes with Riello,a real well made Italian oil firing unit with a Riello oil pump and Riello fan.

Go Riello!

[Charlie T]

If I was in the market for a oil boiler (and I may be soon) I'd look up the old articles in the Weirs times that Mal Fuller wrote. In his folksy way he chronicled the purchase and install of a high efficiency boiler in his house in Wolfboro. It was somewhat interesting reading over last fall and if I remember correctly he was working on a HUGE oil savings as the winter progressed. It would be worth the search of the archives.

[EZ-Pass]

Hi all..

A little help please. I'm looking at replacing my furnace. The current set-up is oil fired, forced hot water, three zones. Hot water from the furnace with a storage tank.

The system is at least as old as the house, 36 years. We have replaced the "burner" several times.

I keep hearing ads on the radio and TV for newer more efficent burners and furnaces.

My question is, has anyone upgraded to any of the newer burners/funaces, and what was the resulting savings?

Any local dealers/installer info also needed.

Thanks

Are you looking to replace just the boiler and burner or are you also looking to replace all the old baseboard and installing high efficiency baseboard heat also?? Boiler and and burner is defiantly not worth the $6.4K/$7.4K.:)

[robmac]

We use Max Air for all of our HVAC service and installs. They have always been affordable and quick, # is 603-898-5128. Good luck.

[EZ-Pass]

I just checked last year's annual maintenance service tag and the unit was evaluated at 86% efficiency. We are very satisfied with this system.

I have a 47 yr. old Peerless cast iron boiler with a 13 yr. old Beckett burner and last Novembers service record shows it running at 83% efficiency. Not to bad for an old burner.:)

[BroadHopper]

You would want to do is have a full evaluation of your home energy efficiency. Call PSNH and they will evaluate you home for free. Not sure if NH-CoOp will do the same.

Lots of factors will determine which is efficient. Gas, electric or oil, steam, forced hot water, hot air, or baseboard heating. Any environmental engineer or 'Green' architect can give you great advice.

I have condo built in 1978. a duplex, all on one floor. Last summer, I was told by an environmental engineer to replace the forced hot water oil burner with a tank to a tankless Rinnai gas hot water unit. It was surprisingly small and it is on demand. Gas because I have natural gas pipeline available. It is so efficient, the exhaust pipe is PVC, not metal. This is great as the condo is is only a weekend home. I was burning oil while I was away. Gas was only needed to maintain a 50 degrees temperature. The Rinnai heats up the unit a lot quicker. Long showers are not a problem. Before, one must wait a half hour before another take a shower.
I have determined my gas bill is about half of what my oil bill was. Oil may be cheaper but the efficiency makes a difference. ;)