Oil to Gas Conversion/Steam to Condensing Water System
Does anyone have experience and references for someone who can do a conversion from an existing oil -steam radiator system to a gas condensing water system (such as a Baxi unit). THis is for a 2-family already occupied home so it’s not a gut rehab. Tired of the oil mafia.
Does anyone have experience and references for someone who can do a conversion from an existing oil -steam radiator system to a gas condensing water system (such as a Baxi unit).
THis is for a 2-family already occupied home so it’s not a gut rehab.
Tired of the oil mafia.
One other bit to add to the discussion.
Aside from the satisfaction of converting from oil to gas, a Baxi or similar system offers landlords the possibility of heating a 2- or 3- family building far more efficiently, while at the same time assigning the fuel bill to individual units.
I saw a 3-family townhouse a few years back on Degraw street where each unit had its own wall-hung Baxi boiler venting out the back wall (which is now legal and part of the building code). The boilers supplied heat and hot water on demand. They were quiet, compact, and entirely under the control of each unit’s residents.
I have a three-family building and I hate the fact that it’s one big zone. Sure, I could put three boilers in the basement and re-pipe everything, but I much prefer this idea of having the boiler in the apartment and under tenant control. It’s fewer pipes snaking through the building as well: just one gas line and one water line to each unit.
After conversion, I plan to reduce the rents slightly ($50/month?) and have tenants pay for their own energy costs. I imagine the building’s carbon footprint will drop in half the first year, since tenants who are out all day will set their thermostats to be low in their absence.
The overall cost I was quoted when I looked into this was about 10K per floor (this is for three boilers, and includes replacing ALL old cast iron piping and radiators—ours are not compatible with a hot water system—and all carpentry work, etc….the whole shebang).
When we bought the building nearly a decade ago, oil cost us about $2000 per winter. Now it’s over $6000. Buy not paying for fuel in the future, I’m saving myself an incredible headache, and expect to make the cost back pretty quickly. And, I’ll get a tax credit for switching to more efficient technology.
Argentina,
We installed the Lochinvar Knight in August of 2008. They are based in Tennessee. This boiler operates for both heat and hot water, so it works year round, but only when needed. We have a passive hot water tank by Ergomax. This item was a little expensive, so I’m not sure its the best way to go. The Lochinvar Knight was only a little more expensive than the equivalent Weil McLain, but more efficient.
In our system, heated boiler water is stored in the Ergomax tank. Domestic hot water runs through a coil that is heated as it passes through the stored hot water. The water in the tank cycles directly to the heat system. So, in summer months, the hot water is going only to the storage tank to heat the hot water, and back to the boiler when it needs to reheat. During heating season, domestic hot water has priority if heat and hot water are needed at the same time.
Both the boiler and the hot water tank have efficiency ratings of 95% or 96%. There was nothing on the market in 2008 with better efficiency. The Lochinvar Knight is model #KNB 150. As for cost, we cut our annual heating bills in half for our 3 story 2-family attached house. We do not yet have insulated glass windows. We did insulate the cockcroft.
The venting is through 2 pvc pipes that were inserted through the chimney flue. It has to go into a sealed system. It can not simply go up an opened masonry flue.
This was not a simple system for us to select at first, and we needed to research the codes and allowable runs.
Hope this helps –
To midslope
Thanks for the tip on lochinvar- which boiler did you go with and do you have to run the boiler for the water heater in the winter or is it a separate water heater and tank system?
To midslope
I’d never heard of Lochinvar Knight…how long have you had it and is it an American system?
For the non-fuel hook up to the water tank do you have the boiler on in the summer to heat up the water?isn’t this expensive?
What are the model numbers for the units you used?
thanks
My building is pretty well sealed all windows are new high efficiency and the roof is new and the entire building has been repointed and chimneys not in used capped and rebuilt. All the chimneys had holes and were falling apart. It is the last brownstone on the block so it is attached only on one side. THis allows for more exterior surface areas to vent through should it be required.
THe boiler conversion is the last step and we will likely tackle it in March.I cannot stand paying what we pay for oil I might as well put it towards a new boiler it is THAT ridiculous.
Pig three,
Thanks.
convert your steam boiler to gas – no more oil man.
then
instead of spending money on piping,plumbing etc. if the heat in your house is well balanced. it could make much more sense to buy new quality casement windows, and get them installed properly (air tight) – no more drafts! and insulate your cockloft.
“To truly be green, sometimes the less glamorous approach truly saves more fossil fuels.”
I would like to nominate this as one of the top ten quotes on BS for 2011.
Well said.
Argentina,
Piping is completely, not partly different.
Highest efficiency units are unable to be vented through a conventional chimney, as their exhasut is not hot enough to draft. Depending on your physical access, your choices of equipment are restricted.
Replacing an oil-fired boiler with a gas fired is a step in the right direction, but steam lacks in granularity the zoning control available with hydronic. If the balance of where the heat presently goes is acceptable, then you may be satisfied with steam created by a gas appliance.
I would say the efficiency and savings are to be found in the ability to only heat the areas you would like, plus being able to make a hard to heat area warm enough. As opposed to the greater efficiency or present cheaperness? of gas than oil.
So I suspect you are wowed by the high efficiency of Baxi or other units, but hooking up to existing steam piping is short sighted. Ditto for tankless etc. You are considering high tech, complex systems, rather than a more conventional more easily serviced system that is laid out better. No, a conventional system won’t be technically as efficient in one step of the process. But a poorly thought out piping solution locks you into requiring more BTU’s whether you create them more efficiently.
To truly be green, sometimes the less glamorous approach truly saves more fossil fuels.
The good thing is that you have time to wait out this season and shop this during the off season for heating guys.