How to decide if it is time to switch to gas heating

For the year 2012 I paid $3100 for fuel oil. I was just given a quote of $6750 to switch to gas by a licensed plumbing and heating company. They will replace with a Burnham 83% efficient steam boiler, an AO Smith hot water heater, upgrade gas meter bar and run 1″ gas piping, install 4″ solid cement base, remove fuel tank, file for permits. My current boiler is a 7 year old Peerless oil boiler which runs fine but is costing a lot with thermostat at 67-68 during the day and 60 at night. It is a dilemma as to what to do. I don’t plan to leave for the next few years yet it seems so wasteful to in essence throw away a perfectly fine boiler. Any all thoughts and comments will be greatly appreciated. Susan

sjb

in Heating 12 years and 2 months ago

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Master Plvmber | 12 years and 2 months ago

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Hold on there.

1\. There is no more venting into brick and mortar allowed. Gas or oil. Doesn’t matter. Any upgrades or new installations have to vent into some sort of liner, be it metal, terra cotta, or something else. 2. There’s no mystery about who needs a new gas line and who doesn’t. It’s not arbitrary. It’s simple math.
If the gas equipment exceeds your available volume of gas, National Grid brings a new gas line into your home for free. You don’t pay anything for that work.
It’s a requirement that you bring a 1″ minimum sized gas line from the meter to the boiler area. Again, no mystery. 30 feet of 1″ gas pipe carries 285,000 BTUs. If your boiler and water heater exceed that, then you install an 1-1/4″ gas line which carries 590,000 BTUs. Everybody has access to the charts that give us these values. 

3\. I actually agree with your third point.

sjb | 12 years and 2 months ago

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Thank you for your thought provoking answer. I have never been fond the the gas company but this contractor is the one sent by National Grid to give the price so I doubt that there would be additional requirements. Yes despite my liking my fuel oil company I probably can do better price wise for oil with another company.

noparkslope | 12 years and 2 months ago

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You should go up and look at the chimney, or hire a reputable chimney cleaner  to inspect it to make sure it is lined– oil does not require lining, but gas does, so the chances are excellent your chimney is unlined. The cost of lining the chimney is an unknown. I’ve seen estimates from 2-4k but all bets are off if they can’t drop a liner cleanly into place.  If they hit a rough spot (do you feel lucky?) then it’s interior work taking bricks out of your walls. That will cost huge in repairs compared to the estimate. To me that risk is a deal breaker. Here is unknown #2: the gas company.  As I understand it, they will have to approve this conversion, and they could decide that you need a bigger (or maybe just a new) gas line coming into the house. Again, it is not clear if they can make that decision before you are committed or not, but if they say you need it, there is no going back. I don’t consider them too rational or open to negotiation, and why should they not force you to upgrade the line since there is nothing you can do about it except pay and pay. That is deal breaker #2.  If your boiler was old, maybe it makes sense to convert. You can do the math on the break even point with fuel costs, and I suspect it is not a rational decision to convert even at this incredible bargain price– I expect somehow they are going to get more out of you than that, which sounds barely more than the price of the mechanicals; most estimates you’ll see around here are double or triple that number, everything included. That is suspicious, and deal breaker #3 for me. Installation skill is something you pay for.   Talk to your oil supplier, maybe they are gouging you. Anyway, I’d put the money into insulation.

Master Plvmber | 12 years and 2 months ago

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With a 7-year-old boiler, I’d look to make what you’ve got more efficient. You can fix your steam system’s venting and add the right pressure controls to make the whole thing work less aggressively. 
Also, make sure the boiler’s not overfired (taking in more oil at once than is necessary). The oil companies are often not as diligent about this stuff as they sometimes ought to be.

sjb | 12 years and 2 months ago

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They did say that they would be hiring a company to take care of removal of oil tank and contents. They said if relining is needed that would be an additional cost. It is so tempting but hate to waste the present unit

Master Plvmber | 12 years and 2 months ago

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For what it’s worth, only a company certified with the EPA should be handling the oil tank. You could get into a lot of trouble if there’s a problem. $6750 is a very low price for all that work. Make sure they plan to install the boiler in the way the manual dictates, with threaded steel pipe and not copper. Did they mention your chimney?