I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.

On 11/21/2014 08:32 AM, wrote:
I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.




I don't know about insulating the boiler but the pipes should of course
be insulated.

Possibly of more importance is your attic.

wrote in message
...

I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.

It depends . . .
Your aim is to warm the air inside your house (at minimal cost.)
Radiation from the boiler warms the (basement) air inside your
house. Only its local geography can tell you whether insulating
the boiler will reduce unit heating costs (for net house heating
benefit.) E.g. we do not know whether you seek to heat all rooms.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On Fri, 21 Nov 2014 09:58:25 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .

I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.

It depends . . .
Your aim is to warm the air inside your house (at minimal cost.)
Radiation from the boiler warms the (basement) air inside your
house. Only its local geography can tell you whether insulating
the boiler will reduce unit heating costs (for net house heating
benefit.) E.g. we do not know whether you seek to heat all rooms.

I use that boiler, as our only source for HW. I have a pellet stove
insert (should have mentioned that in my original post) that provides
a significant "portion" of our household heating. Typically, our
boiler only provides heat, on the coldest days.

In the winter I do not heat, to a comfort level, our rarely used
bedrooms.

On 11/21/2014 9:32 AM, wrote:
I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.


The setup you have is a very common system used in millions of homes.
To summarize its efficiency, it sucks. The blanket is going to be
minimal help. Used to bother me on a hot summer night to hear the
burner run to heat up water that would not be used for hours. Very wasteful.

What you should consider is setting up in indirect fired hot water tank.
The setup I have will hold water at temperature for days and not need
the boiler to run unless water is being used.

A few years ago I got rid of my 30 year old boiler and upgraded to a
System 2000 and my oil use dropped 39.2% based on degree days.

The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

On 11/21/2014 9:56 AM, philo wrote:


I don't know about insulating the boiler but the pipes should of course
be insulated.


Maybe. If the zone is not operating there is little to no loss. If the
zone is operating and you want to heat the area, the heat is not lost.

I want the heat from those pipes to heat my utility area. There is no
other heat source. It works out as a good balance. Any heat "loss" in
that area goes into heated living space.

On Friday, November 21, 2014 5:59:26 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/21/2014 9:32 AM, wrote:
I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.


The setup you have is a very common system used in millions of homes.
To summarize its efficiency, it sucks. The blanket is going to be
minimal help. Used to bother me on a hot summer night to hear the
burner run to heat up water that would not be used for hours. Very wasteful.

What you should consider is setting up in indirect fired hot water tank.
The setup I have will hold water at temperature for days and not need
the boiler to run unless water is being used.

A few years ago I got rid of my 30 year old boiler and upgraded to a
System 2000 and my oil use dropped 39.2% based on degree days.

The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

+1

Depending on his cost of electricity, an electric WH might be an option
too. I assume nat gas is not available.

On 11/22/2014 8:51 AM, trader_4 wrote:

A few years ago I got rid of my 30 year old boiler and upgraded to a
System 2000 and my oil use dropped 39.2% based on degree days.

The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

+1

Depending on his cost of electricity, an electric WH might be an option
too. I assume nat gas is not available.


It is really about efficiency. #2 oil is cheaper per Btu, but the waste
is very high with the exiting setup for hot water. In winter, if that
loss is into an area you are trying to heat, the loss is small, but in
summer, it is incredibly high. An electric water heater would make sense.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2014 05:51:31 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

On Friday, November 21, 2014 5:59:26 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 11/21/2014 9:32 AM, wrote:
I own a oil fed Burnham boiler. It is used for our hot water and some
household heating. Is there a way I can further insulate the unit,
ala an electric HW heate Blanket? I want to minimize the heat loss to
the ambient air, thu reduce our oil ($$) consumption.


The setup you have is a very common system used in millions of homes.
To summarize its efficiency, it sucks. The blanket is going to be
minimal help. Used to bother me on a hot summer night to hear the
burner run to heat up water that would not be used for hours. Very wasteful.

What you should consider is setting up in indirect fired hot water tank.
The setup I have will hold water at temperature for days and not need
the boiler to run unless water is being used.

A few years ago I got rid of my 30 year old boiler and upgraded to a
System 2000 and my oil use dropped 39.2% based on degree days.

The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

+1

Depending on his cost of electricity, an electric WH might be an option
too. I assume nat gas is not available.

Indeed nat gas is not available. With the operating cost of the
current oil boiler, I chose to add the pellet insert. That insert
provides nearly all of the house heat. The oil boiler, $$ to
operate, is mainly hot water.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2014 10:56:32 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 11/22/2014 8:51 AM, trader_4 wrote:

A few years ago I got rid of my 30 year old boiler and upgraded to a
System 2000 and my oil use dropped 39.2% based on degree days.

The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

So Ed,

Looking at the System2000 I cannot find any purchase cost online. Can
you provide an approximate purchase/install cost as I will need to
replace my boiler in the next few years???

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On 11/23/2014 10:22 AM, bobmct wrote:


The one I have is from www.energykinetics.com but there are others.
Amtrol has an add on tank for existing boilers. .

So Ed,

Looking at the System2000 I cannot find any purchase cost online. Can
you provide an approximate purchase/install cost as I will need to
replace my boiler in the next few years???

Price will depends on the local seller/installer. I paid about $7000
for mine Delivered one day, a guy came to do the unit setup the next
day, then two guys came the third day and took out the old, put in the
new. Heat was off for only a few hours.

That included a new copper oil line from the tank, a PVC fresh air
intake, two zones for heating plus one for hot water, all plumbing and
electrical work. They used existing thermostats.

I've been tracking my oil use and in a typical year I'd buy over 850
gallons. It dropped to 450 to 500 or so. The actual use I calculated
using degree days from www.degreedays.net You can download a report for
the dates between oil deliveries to an Excel spreadsheet.

Check for rebates from both stte and energy start, etc. I saved about
$1500 on that alone.