I currently have a 30 plus year old boiler and baseboard radiators to heat my home. It is very comfortable heat, but very outdated. I cannot afford the $3000 to $4000 bill to replace the boiler with a brand new one. Is there any way to get a serviceman with HVAC certification to replace the guts of the boiler system or upgrade it somehow? It looks fairly uncomplicated inside the boiler unit. Are there any options other than leaving the Hobart system in its inefficient current state?
Depends on what fuel you use. If natural gas, and depending on how big your home is, you might be able to have the boiler replaced with a hot water heater. Look on the boiler nameplate for something like Output: 250,000 BTU/Hr or if in a metric country, kW. Note that you will need to distinguish between heat input [burn rate on fuel] and heat output [how much heat goes out in the water]. The difference is how much heat goes up the chimney [which may be most of it]. I doubt it would be acceptable under the Code to replace bits of the unit, instead of the whole thing. Even if it were, the installer [if any good, and honest] would probably refuse, for reasons of liability.
Many stable solutions so a good distance, yet initiate on the a possibility reasons of intense expenses, living house windows, checking for and removing drafts, possibly new skill powerful storms, this additionally holds authentic of get entry to doors. Insulation, as maximum warmth is misplaced in the process the ceiling, a stable heavy insulation in the attic is extremely substantial, and if an older living house, insulation would be blown in the outdoors partitions. The installation of a timer thermostat, the place you positioned it for the wanted temperature for various cases of day, this does artwork and would not use intense warmth to catch up whilst set low. form of furnace, the recent 90plus furnaces and the much greater proper 95plus can and do save multiple gas. costly to purchase and set up, yet rather well worth the fee once you're making plans on being there a mutually as. The older fashions of the %80 gas units had a typical stack temperature of over 460 deg whilst incredibly new or perhaps larger whilst some years previous, so as that lots warmth is misplaced in the process the flue, the place because of the fact the greater contemporary intense performance units vent the exhaust gases however a %pipe, so most of the warmth is in the living house, no longer outdoors. utilising area warmers is rather no longer your answer, as maximum purely tend to heat up one room, and electrical energy isn't low priced, and reckoning on your loved ones project, they are in a position to be risky around babies.
Boilers can be rebuilt - the heat exchanger replaced or the gas valve replaced or the controls replaced - but consider how much a car would cost if you bought it all as parts. Same with the boiler. By all means, if service is required and a part is faulty, then it needs to be replaced. When the whole unit is on its last legs though.... Many heating companies work with financial companies to offer payment plans for major component installations. A $4,000 install can be stretched over 3-4-5 years to give a low monthly payment instead of a one-time, large cash payment. Call around - I'm sure that you can get a contractor to work with you.
I also have a hot water boiler that is over 30 years old. It is fired by heating oil. I talked to the heating oil company where I get my fuel and ask them if there wear more efficient units than mine. They told me the unit I have is about 85% and a new one would be about 92% efficent. Hard to justify the cost in replaceing the unit I have. I have it cleaned every year and so far so good.
