And heeeeeer's the oil prebuy price!

[Sheepdog]

Chris, Thanks for the thoughts! Now I have PLENTY to think about. The one that concerns me most though, is your comment about putting anti-freeze into the heating system. I didn't know that it would find new ways to leak out!?!?!? My system is only about 10 yrs old, does this make a difference or are all FHW heating systems inherently leaky? This concerns me because that was the next thing I was going to do, so my unused heating pipes wouldn't freeze up in the walls this year. HELP

-Sheedog

 

[Backroads]

Shoot, I don't think the presidential candidates debated this much! :cheese:

 

[Redox]

Shoot, I don't think the presidential candidates debated this much! :cheese:

Yeah, this one is getting a little long...

Look around your boiler connections and see if any are kinda crusty or have green scale on them. That would be a slow leak that is evaporating water fast enough to not drip. Glycol doesn't evaporate (much) and would really show up those leaks. Pump and valve seals can also start leaking with glycol in the system. I'm pretty convinced that there are no systems that are truly 100% leak free. Repairing these leaks is a lot harder with glycol as you can't just dump it like water and make the repair. They may be small, but they will definitely show up!

We used to just tie a rag around the leaks on the computer room systems we serviced and change the rag when it got soaked. We also used to collect the glycol leaking out of the pump seals and recycle it back to the expansion tank. Shutting down a computer room loop was next to impossible for a silly thing like a leak.

I'm not saying you will have a problem, but installing glycol is not something to be taken lightly, IMHO. I would look into other possibilities like continuous circulation on very cold nights or perhaps draining the most susceptible parts of your system and blowing out the piping with air or nitrogen. Shut off your makeup water to the boiler and see if it holds pressure for a few months. Some leaks only show up when it gets hot. If you are holding pressure, it is probably OK to add glycol, but don't be surprised if a stain shows up on a ceiling somewhere.

Just food for thought. I don't want to come across as being too negative here. Sorry.

Chris

 

[Backroads]

Sorry guys I had to bring this old thread up and laugh at us! We put all the time and effort into debating the topic in this thread and now look where we're at....as of 10/27/2008 in Warwick RI home heating oil is $2.25/gallon!! Crude oil price is down to $63.30 a barrel, a decrease of approximately 57% since it hit the high of $147

Don't get me wrong though, I'm still going to burn all the free firewood I cut this year in my brand new stove! It's the only way we're going to keep the demand down to drive prices even further into the ground!

 

[firefighterjake]

My feeling is that if I was a betting man I would bet on the price of heating oil increasing rather than decreasing as we move into winter . . . besides free wood even beats heating oil at 79 cents a gallon or $1.39 a gallon and I doubt I'll see those prices any time soon . . . or ever again.

 

[d.n.f.]

WHy not keep the oil heat for back up, and dump the oil hot water with a electric hot water heater?
I have a Whirlpool smart water heater. I set it at 115 when I got it. Has a knob that you turn on the top control box. Can go much lower also.
Lifetime warranty, but I hold lil faith in most lifetime warranties.

i read [been awhile] u want to turn up the temp to 140*? or so every 2 or 3 mo. for a week or so to sanitize the tank & avoid LEGIONAIRES developing in tank.

Interesting that there has never been a domestic case of this. It doesn't seem to happen in homes, only in hotels/rest homes etc. At least that is what the CBC News said a few months ago.

 

[oconnor]

Fuel Cost Comparison Calculator

I just swapped out my 1950's oil boiler, and had to decide what I would replace it with. I considered a wood boiler, but didn't want to have to rely on having someone stoke a fire when I went away for two weeks (don't have room for storage tanks).

I ran some numbers thru the calculator link above and got a real surprise - an electric boiler at .14 kwh would cost $500 less than an 85% efficient oil boiler when providing 100 gigajoules of heat over the season. All that, and the electric install, including the service upgrade to 200 amp (including wired smoke detectors, GFCI upgrade were required, and new plugs where the should be) was going to cost me $2000 less than an oil install (mostly because I wouldn't need to line a flue or install a new oil tank) (Sorry for the Metric guys, but I can't translate it).

I don't have natural gas as an option - we here in Nova Scotia sell most of it to New England, and burn coal to generate the electricity.

The fuel cost calculator here on Hearth.com gave me some different numbers, more in favour of oil. Run your numbers thru and see what it gives you. In the end, I went with electric heat for the domestic hot water and boiler, and bought a wood stove, all for about the same cost as replacing my oil boiler with a new oil boiler. My wood is mostly free for the getting, as my inlaws own a woodlot.

As for efficiency, I realize that folks quote electric system efficiency at 33% when you take all the loses into account, but quoting oil at 85% is a lie - that is just the efficiency in my house, and doesn't count efficiency loses at the oil rig, refinery, delivery etc, etc.. Kind of like saying wood heat is carbon neutral -true if I eat an organic diet from my yard and cut it with an axe, but the 2 stroke saw and 1975 Chev that I run it to my house with are not carbon neutral. I am more inclined to say would has less impact than oil, especially when it replaces "old" oil appliances.

In the end, I expect my electric boiler, and the wood stove I bought with the money I saved not buying the oil boiler, will give me the smallest carbon footprint.

 

[oconnor]

Looking to reduce standby losses on any hot water system, after you insulate the tank - put in a heat trap loop on both the hot and cold lines to/from the heater. You can buy a premade flow valve, or just install a copper/Pex loop. It will help stop convective circulation in the pipes. Google "hot water heat trap" to get an overview.

Not really a wood heat topic though, but given the discussion, I'll throw it in.

 

[gpcollen1]

WHy not keep the oil heat for back up, and dump the oil hot water with a electric hot water heater?
I have a Whirlpool smart water heater. I set it at 115 when I got it. Has a knob that you turn on the top control box. Can go much lower also.
Lifetime warranty, but I hold lil faith in most lifetime warranties.

i read [been awhile] u want to turn up the temp to 140*? or so every 2 or 3 mo. for a week or so to sanitize the tank & avoid LEGIONAIRES developing in tank.

Interesting that there has never been a domestic case of this. It doesn't seem to happen in homes, only in hotels/rest homes etc. At least that is what the CBC News said a few months ago.

My wife and I both got Legionaires back in May/June. Have no idea where it came from. I think there is plenty that they do not 'know' about it or just don't have conclusive evidence to say one way or another. Nothing wrong with being cautious...