First I have to apologize for not knowing much about boilers. I ended up here after educating myself for roughly 3 weeks on the matter and calling virtually all boiler manufacturers that I could find.
My situation is this: I live in a 1600 sq feet house in New Hampshire that I am going to expand to roughly 2200 sq feet within the next three years or so. I currently have a 300 gallon oil tank that leaks and a Slant/Fin Liberty II oil boiler from 2004 (the house has baseboard heat). Because the house is very poorly insulated, I currently consume roughly 900-1200 gallons of oil per year, even if I keep the heat down at 60 degrees. The boiler itself works fine, but it needs a tune up and I've heard that the boiler isn't of the best possible quality (is this correct?).
I've decided to go with a wood boiler for primary heat with a propane backup. The only two options I've found that can provide this in a single multi-unit are HS Tarm Excel (11-13k) and the Atmos Combined Boiler (4-6k?) (Newmac stopped providing these units even if their website says so and Alternate Heating Systems has so far been unresponsive). Do you guys know of any other manufacturers that have these capabilities?
Another option I recently heard about is to buy a separate wood boiler and gas boiler, and combine them. Apparently it is possible to line these up in a way that would automatically kick on the gas boiler when the temperature of the wood boiler sinks below a certain level - is this correct? In case it is, does anyone know of good and cheap wood boilers and gas boilers (could be of different brands, doesn't matter)?
A third option I'm iffy against would be to by a multi-unit for wood and pellets. So far I know only of two manufacturers that provide this: Atmos and Eko - are there others?
Please be so kind and help me figuring this out...
My situation is this: I live in a 1600 sq feet house in New Hampshire that I am going to expand to roughly 2200 sq feet within the next three years or so. I currently have a 300 gallon oil tank that leaks and a Slant/Fin Liberty II oil boiler from 2004 (the house has baseboard heat). Because the house is very poorly insulated, I currently consume roughly 900-1200 gallons of oil per year, even if I keep the heat down at 60 degrees. The boiler itself works fine, but it needs a tune up and I've heard that the boiler isn't of the best possible quality (is this correct?).
I've decided to go with a wood boiler for primary heat with a propane backup. The only two options I've found that can provide this in a single multi-unit are HS Tarm Excel (11-13k) and the Atmos Combined Boiler (4-6k?) (Newmac stopped providing these units even if their website says so and Alternate Heating Systems has so far been unresponsive). Do you guys know of any other manufacturers that have these capabilities?
Another option I recently heard about is to buy a separate wood boiler and gas boiler, and combine them. Apparently it is possible to line these up in a way that would automatically kick on the gas boiler when the temperature of the wood boiler sinks below a certain level - is this correct? In case it is, does anyone know of good and cheap wood boilers and gas boilers (could be of different brands, doesn't matter)?
A third option I'm iffy against would be to by a multi-unit for wood and pellets. So far I know only of two manufacturers that provide this: Atmos and Eko - are there others?
Please be so kind and help me figuring this out...