Check out my new heating system

[chazmo]

I just thought I'd share this with everyone. After over 60 years, my home's oil boiler had to be replaced. I mean, seriously, that's built to last. I didn't want to do it, but it was time. The old boiler was about four times the size of what you're going to see. It was an Arcoleader with tankless hot water. I've replaced it with a Trio boiler -- a Biasi unit cusomized exlusively for F. W. Webb -- and an indirect hot water tank.

Anyway, I really thought you folks might appreciate the art of what was done here. This installation was very impressive, but I just can't get over how clean and, frankly, artistic this is.

Oh, and please don't ask me what it cost. I hate dishing out retirement dollars at this point, but as all homeowners know ... you gotta' take care of your home!

 

[GGJaguar]

I'll bet the new one is far more efficient than the old one. That'll save some money over time.

 

[bobouz]

Ooh, very clean looking - what a nice job!

 

[Stuball48]

And a thing of beauty. Warm bath water, immediately, in Massachusetts in January is a blessing for sure.

 

[chazmo]

I'll bet the new one is far more efficient than the old one. That'll save some money over time.

Well, the old boiler was actually oversized for the house to begin with, and the tankless hot water meant that the boiler fired up a lot more than the new one will. So, yeah, definitely some conservation there. But, I believe that constant duty cycle was one of the reason[s that it worked as well as it did for as long as it did.]

That being said, will it last another lifetime like the original one? I'm dubious. But this Trio unit is supposed to be the "best of the best" so I hope so. If it does, it'll outlast me for sure.

 

[chazmo]

And a thing of beauty. Warm bath water, immediately, in Massachusetts in January is a blessing for sure.

That's for sure! The old unit was wonderful for that. This should be perfect with the indirect tank.

I have a friend in CA with "instant on" hot water with a gas, forced air furnace. I'm not sure how it works, but I think it's tankless. Anyway, if "instant" is about 45 seconds... well, let's just say it annoys me that I have to run the hot water that long before getting hot water. In my house, it's a max of about 5 seconds.

 

[davidbeinct]

We have propane instant hot water. The fifteen to thirty seconds you might have to wait for hot water pales in comparison to the nonstop hot water that is available when living with three women/girls.

 

[SFIV1967]

I hope that all those nice pipes will still get their sufficient insulation, otherwise you will have a lot of heat in your basement.

Ralf

 

[GAD]

Congrats!

In our old house we had a furnace from 1969 which is when the house was built. The home inspector told us when we bought the house in 1997 that “it could last forever or it could fail tomorrow.”

We sold the house 26 years later with the same furnace still running. We had it serviced every year and had to replace parts every now and then but so far as I’m aware it’s still going at the rip old age of 54.

The furnace in our new house looks like It came from the future. It’s supposed to be a good one, though, so here’s hoping.

 

[chazmo]

We have propane instant hot water. The fifteen to thirty seconds you might have to wait for hot water pales in comparison to the nonstop hot water that is available when living with three women/girls.

Hehehehe.... No, I get it. I hadn't thought of that.

 

[chazmo]

I hope that all those nice pipes will still get their sufficient insulation, otherwise you will have a lot of heat in your basement.

Ralf

Actually it all works great. The basement is heated and it's all good. At least it worked fine with the old system. We'll see; good thought though, Ralf!

 

[chazmo]

Congrats!

In our old house we had a furnace from 1969 which is when the house was built. The home inspector told us when we bought the house in 1997 that “it could last forever or it could fail tomorrow.”

We sold the house 26 years later with the same furnace still running. We had it serviced every year and had to replace parts every now and then but so far as I’m aware it’s still going at the rip old age of 54.

The furnace in our new house looks like It came from the future. It’s supposed to be a good one, though, so here’s hoping.

That's pretty much exactly my situation, GAD, except my house is a little older (1961). I moved in here in 1997 and, well, exactly what you just said.

I really admire the way the old one was built to last. Just amazing. I will certainly appreciate the efficiency of the new one, but will it last 62 years? I highly doubt it.

 

[Guildedagain]

Nice work.

 

[awagner]

We have gone through the ringer with our heating/cooling system.

Our house was built in the early 1950s with radiant heating, which was state of the art at the time. When we bought the house 15 years ago, it only had 2 zones, an oil furnace, and an underground oil tank. We added several zones, and installed an above-ground tank.

We later converted to gas.

Then some of the radiant pipes started leaking (copper pipes are rated for 50 years), so we had to decommission the radiant heating system entirely, and installed radiators and baseboards on the first floor.

Since our central A/C units were at the end of their useful life, we replaced them, with one of them delivering forced hot air to the second floor (to avoid installing radiators/baseboards upstairs).

When we renovated our house last year, we upgraded our thermostats to the Nest system, which works great. And we just removed the oil tank to recapture that space in our garage.

Talk about a money pit.

 

[Boneman]

Nice going, and you will definitely see energy efficiency gains. Man, helps to have a clean area to work in too, good to see you keep the basement tidy.

 

[chazmo]

We have gone through the ringer with our heating/cooling system.

Our house was built in the early 1950s with radiant heating, which was state of the art at the time. When we bought the house 15 years ago, it only had 2 zones, an oil furnace, and an underground oil tank. We added several zones, and installed an above-ground tank.

We later converted to gas.

Then some of the radiant pipes started leaking (copper pipes are rated for 50 years), so we had to decommission the radiant heating system entirely, and installed radiators and baseboards on the first floor.

Since our central A/C units were at the end of their useful life, we replaced them, with one of them delivering forced hot air to the second floor (to avoid installing radiators/baseboards upstairs).

When we renovated our house last year, we upgraded our thermostats to the Nest system, which works great. And we just removed the oil tank to recapture that space in our garage.

Talk about a money pit.

Sounds like a money pit, aw... Piped radiant heat is just not a lifetime system, IMHO. So, yeah, my house is entirely hot water baseboard (built that way in 1961). I love it. I have a bathroom with modern electric under-floor radiant, but I don't use that ever.

I think baseboard is the easiest to maintain and get a lifetime of use out of, but the downside is that my house was not built with any air ductwork -- so central air is not possible. I have ductless air conditioning on my ground floor, but my second floor has none. [Another downside of baseboards is that without the ducting there's no way to add humidity to air the way you can with hot air... As you ALL know, that's an issue for guitars in the winter because the air dries out big time.]

 

[chazmo]

Nice going, and you will definitely see energy efficiency gains. Man, helps to have a clean area to work in too, good to see you keep the basement tidy.

It's motivating me to give the interior of the house a going through. I got divorced 5 years ago, and I haven't really made the house "mine" yet. I'm going to need at least two full-size dumpsters (already did one and didn't even make a dent on the main house) to really tidy things up.