On Thu, 26 Sep 2013 06:58:33 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Thursday, September 26, 2013 6:03:42 AM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Thu, 26 Sep 2013 08:39:14 +0200, nestork

wrote:





Ed Pawlowski;3126413 Wrote:



You make a good point, but run the numbers. It may be a good idea to

consider just converting the burner to gas if the rest is in good

condition.



I don't believe you can turn a chicken into a duck that way. Gas fired

boilers will have burner trays running under the sections of the boilers

where the gas burns as it comes out of the burner trays.



I have no experience with oil fired boilers, but they couldn't use

burner trays like a gas fired boiler would because the oil is a liquid

and would simply spill out of those burner trays onto the floor. My

understanding is that oil fired boilers have a "pump" of sorts that

pressurizes the oil so that it's injected into the boiler as a fine mist

so that it burns both cleanly and completely. And, that difference

alone is going to require a boiler of fundamentally different design

than one that burns gas.





What you think does not matter. What is possible and done frequently

does. I've seen many a boiler converted. When you get into

commercial units, dual fuel is common too. Oh, I've also seen coal

heaters converted to either gas or oil too. That was common back in

the 50's and 60's.



But what kind of EFFICIENCY do you get after you've converted
that 20 to 40 year old boiler to nat gas? I would bet it's
significantly less than a new high eff boiler would be
and what does it cost to convert, versus just buying a whole
new high eff 90%+ nat gas boiler? Isn't the cost of a
whole new boiler only like $2,000 for the eqpt?

Roughly the same as you had with the old oil burner. The lost heat
goes up the chimney. With the same boiler design and the same output
heat, the same heat goes up the chimney. TANSTAAFL.

The conversion burner is a cheap way to do exactly that; convert
between fuels. Of course, if money is no object or the old boiler
needs more than just a burner, a complete replacement is in order.


Also, my understanding is that oil fired boilers are commonly used in

rural areas that aren't serviced by gas utilities. Instead, heating oil

companies deliver heating oil by truck to a storage tank on your

property, and it's that heating oil you burn to keep your house warm.

So, even if you could change the burner section to burn gas, if there's

no gas service to your area, you'd have further expenses setting up some

form of gas storage facility on your property.



While that is true, I know of plenty of houses with gas service and

oil heat. My in-laws is one. They cook with gas, heat with oil.

They must be nuts. It doesn't take long to recover the cost
of switching to gas. And with the $1500 fed tax credit that was
available just a few years ago, possible state rebates, utility
rebates, etc, lower maintenance costs, higher efficiency, I
can't imagine why they wouldn't have switched instead of using
$4 a gal oil.

When I did it, the gas company paid for all of the work (inside and
out) except the burner (which I rented) and a cleanout cut in the
chimney $50 (which should have been there, by code).