# Cost for Froling S3 Turbo and 500 gallons of storage



## fabsroman (Jul 19, 2019)

My wife and I are looking at a new to us house that is 4,000 finished sf on the main and upstairs level with a 2,000 sf unfinished basement. Currently, it uses an oil fired boiler and I am thinking about converting to a wood boiler if we end up buying it. Thing is, I have no idea what a gasificaiton boiler with thermal storage costs. I have the option of putting in a wood stove in the basement and another wood stove on the main level and am trying to compare these options for the long term. We would probably be in the house for 20+ years. The current system is an oil fired boiler with heat pump backup.

Thanks


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## peakbagger (Jul 19, 2019)

Cut out the middle men and call the folks up in NH. woodboilers.com. They are very helpful and the importer plus they have storage line.

The standard caveat applies,modern indoor wood boilers as well as stoves need dry wood. Unless you have access to kiln dried wood, you need to get a seasons worth of wood piled up and stored properly for a minimum of year preferably two years.


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## maple1 (Jul 19, 2019)

Without knowing what you have for a heat pump, I would be very leery about getting rid of the oil unit - rather, add on a wood one. Relying almost totally on wood can get to be a pain at times, all depending. Also a bit unsure what you have for a system - usually heat pumps are tied to hot air furnace systems, and not hydronic.

You could likely simply ballpark $20,000 and be fairly close, for $-related decision making purposes. There are usually all kinds of situational variables at play.


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## Bad LP (Jul 19, 2019)

maple1 said:


> You could likely simply ballpark $20,000 and be fairly close, for $-related decision making purposes. There are usually all kinds of situational variables at play.



This is a very good starting point if you go with ASME tanks.


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## fabsroman (Jul 19, 2019)

peakbagger said:


> Cut out the middle men and call the folks up in NH. woodboilers.com. They are very helpful and the importer plus they have storage line.
> 
> The standard caveat applies,modern indoor wood boilers as well as stoves need dry wood. Unless you have access to kiln dried wood, you need to get a seasons worth of wood piled up and stored properly for a minimum of year preferably two years.



I have been living the standard caveat for 8 seasons now. Been 3 years ahead for all 8 years except this year. We've been looking for a house for a couple years now and have been burning down the pile so our current house looks more attractive. Been running a Yukon wood burning furnace for the past 8 years, but the Froling just looks so much better than the Yukon and it will work better in this prospective house based upon its setup.


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## fabsroman (Jul 19, 2019)

maple1 said:


> Without knowing what you have for a heat pump, I would be very leery about getting rid of the oil unit - rather, add on a wood one. Relying almost totally on wood can get to be a pain at times, all depending. Also a bit unsure what you have for a system - usually heat pumps are tied to hot air furnace systems, and not hydronic.
> 
> You could likely simply ballpark $20,000 and be fairly close, for $-related decision making purposes. There are usually all kinds of situational variables at play.



I don't currently own this house, but yesterday was the 2nd time I went to look at it. This time, I paid a little more attention to the heating setup. It has a Smith oil burner boiler that is also tied into the hot water tank. There are three zones for heating and cooling and there are 3 lines that run from the air handlers back to the boiler. There are two lines that run from the boiler to the air handlers on the other side of the room. The piping for the boilers goes into a "radiator" that sits atop the air handlers. The house is setup for forced air HVAC with a heat pump and I am guessing that the boiler is used to provide the majority of heat. I would really like to get rid of the oil fired boiler and oil tank in the basement and replace them with a wood boiler and thermal storage.

Granted, in my climate here in Maryland, it would probably take me a decade to recoup the $20,000 investment unless I end up building a workshop and heating it with the boiler too. So, now I am leaning toward woodstoves in the basement and the main level.


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## salecker (Jul 19, 2019)

If you build a work shop,that is the place for the boiler and storage.
Gets the mess and danger out of your house,especially if you put your backup oil in the workshop as well.
Mt system is in it's own building.The smoke,ash and dust that the boiler and wood generates dosn't get in my house.The heating system in it's own building is my insurance.No carbon monoxide poising or chance of a heating caused fire in my house.
 There is a Volunteer Fire Department in our town,my brother is the chief,as good as they are there is no guarantee of a response to fire.


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## maple1 (Jul 19, 2019)

fabsroman said:


> I don't currently own this house, but yesterday was the 2nd time I went to look at it. This time, I paid a little more attention to the heating setup. It has a Smith oil burner boiler that is also tied into the hot water tank. There are three zones for heating and cooling and there are 3 lines that run from the air handlers back to the boiler. There are two lines that run from the boiler to the air handlers on the other side of the room. The piping for the boilers goes into a "radiator" that sits atop the air handlers. The house is setup for forced air HVAC with a heat pump and I am guessing that the boiler is used to provide the majority of heat. I would really like to get rid of the oil fired boiler and oil tank in the basement and replace them with a wood boiler and thermal storage.
> 
> Granted, in my climate here in Maryland, it would probably take me a decade to recoup the $20,000 investment unless I end up building a workshop and heating it with the boiler too. So, now I am leaning toward woodstoves in the basement and the main level.



Mine was around $15K all-in. Different country & different currency, but again ballparking.

I did everything myself so saved install costs there. I also got fairly lucky with storage tanks, that part of it cost me around $2k. So again - lots of variables. Depending on your abilities & local supply situation - I likely wouldn't hope too much for it to be much less than $15k. Better to go in realistically.

I can certainly see wanting to get rid of oil - that's what we did & was one of the reasons for doing it. I installed an electric boiler for backup (included in the 15k), but those get real expensive in a hurry if used for any amount of regular time. 

I might check out replacing your heat pump, depending what you have. They have come a long way the past few years, technology & efficiency wise - a new one might be able to do all your heating & cooling. Maybe add a stove for supplementing - although you do have a fairly large amount of square footage.

Can you find out past heating & oil costs?


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## Highbeam (Jul 24, 2019)

Super duper pooper expensive. So much that I have 1800 LF of radiant tubes sitting unused in my slab.


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## maple1 (Jul 25, 2019)

Highbeam said:


> Super duper pooper expensive. So much that I have 1800 LF of radiant tubes sitting unused in my slab.



I wonder how a heat pump water heater would do with that, in your climate?


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## Bad LP (Jul 25, 2019)

Highbeam said:


> Super duper pooper expensive. So much that I have 1800 LF of radiant tubes sitting unused in my slab.



My buddy used a standard NG gas water heater


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## Highbeam (Jul 25, 2019)

maple1 said:


> I wonder how a heat pump water heater would do with that, in your climate?



I think it would be awesome but the only one that may be available is Grey market with no user reports.


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## Highbeam (Jul 25, 2019)

Bad LP said:


> My buddy used a standard NG gas water heater



No NG here and an electric tank is too low output. An electric boiler could work but like the op, they are expensive to run. Cheap to buy though.

Thanks guys.


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## Bad LP (Jul 26, 2019)

Highbeam said:


> No NG here and an electric tank is too low output. An electric boiler could work but like the op, they are expensive to run. Cheap to buy though.
> 
> Thanks guys.


There's LP as an option. 
In hindsight I wish I had put PEX in my garage slab. Too late now!! LOL.


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