Best "Green" boiler
What is the most “green” boiler out there – currently we are using oil steam heat and need to replace this system and are trying to find the most environmentally friendly system that we can retro fit into an old brownstone? Plus we don’t have endless supplies of monies – so we are also looking…
What is the most “green” boiler out there – currently we are using oil steam heat and need to replace this system and are trying to find the most environmentally friendly system that we can retro fit into an old brownstone? Plus we don’t have endless supplies of monies – so we are also looking for an economical solution as well.
We have a natural gas powered hot water boiler (old one, not new though) and are pleased with it. Knock-on-wood less high maintenance, less noisy, and more efficient than a steam heat boiler.
We were told a new, similar boiler whenever we got one would cost $7,000 for boiler + installation. I’d think you should figure that cost plus running a gas line to the boiler, plus they’d have to change out the thermostat with a new boiler. I don’t know if the pipes and radiators are different for steam or hot water though, are they? Our radiators look the same as steam ones. That’s the big thing, finding out if you can keep the same pipes and radiators. Or replace them gradually or something.
but if you change to hot water you can get 92+% efficiency with condensing boilers. Don’t know how hard this is to do from steam
If you’ve got a steam heating system, you are very limited. All the boilers top out at about 82% efficiency.
Even if you spend more on a hyper-engineered boiler like Burnham’s unique Mega-Steam:
http://www.burnham.com/mega.htm , and pick up about 4 percentage points,
you’ve still got a low-efficiency system (still much better than hot air) for the boiler to work with.
The bottom line is the most efficient steam boiler is a new or well-maintained boiler as they start to lose points from the day they’re installed.
There is very little difference from one brand or model to another where efficiency is concerned.