Like everyone in the US who is watching their heating oil bills go through the roof, we decided to start shutting off the oil furnace (Slant Fin) around April. Although we had a relatively cold Spring in Northern NJ. We have a 70 gallon hot water storage tank hooked up to the furnace. We turned the furnace off and would just turn it back on for 1 hr a day to guarantee we would have enough hot water for showers etc.
Yesterday morning, we noticed water on the floor of our basement. It appeared to be slowly leaking out of the furnace valve located on top of the furnace. I assume this is some kind of safety blow off valve. We called our local Suburban oil service man who has a yearly contract on our furnace repair. He said that your problem was to turning off the furnace! He said it is not designed to do that and create big time problems down the road. ? Creates problems with furnace seals etc. He said well just leave it on, at most it will burn about 1 hr a day and you won’t have those problems.
Doing a quick calculation with oil at roughly $4.50 a gallon and probably going towards $5.00 x 365 days a year. That adds up to $1825 just to keep your furnace from mal functioning. Of course we would have the furnace on in the winter anyhow.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Replies
I can't speak to the economics, but boiler fittings will show small leaks when they get cold. As your repairman stated, all those fittings that are nice and tight when warm will contract and leak when they get cold. Is it worth it? I don't know but it's something to think about.
I've seen that before once or twice. Boiler gets cold, metal contracts, flanges/fittings leak. Best just to leave it on.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
i am not at all familiar with the northeast, and how oil fired boiler systems work but i have a question. it seems as though your boiler is tied to a water storage tank, and that is where you get your hot water.
would it be possible to segregate the water lines with tees and valves so that you could have a seperate water heater on in the warm months, then turn the valves and put water pressure back to the boiler and storage tank in the heating season?
i would think you could buy the water heater and have it installed along with the extra plumbing and valves to do that for less than $1825.
but even better than that go to the "build it solar" site and research their article on solar hot water. if you have room like the people in the article a solar hot water/heating system might be able to eliminate your boiler altogether. of course i think you have to have in floor radiant heat for that to work, there is such a thing as a solar boiler but i don't think it is cost effective for a residence.
just asking the question, hope it helps.
I just re-read your post and overlooked the fact that you were manually turning the boiler on for ~1 hr/day, then shutting it off. Alternately, your boilerman recommends leaving it on continuously and suggests that at most it will run for about an hour/day.
It appears that you will burn ~ the same amount of fuel/day (assuming you want hot water) so I can't see where leaving it on will cost you any more than turning it on/off manually.
Thanks,
I can see why you would assume that but the reality is if the boiler is left on, it will go on and off all day long, even on the hottest summer days. I don't sit there with a stop watch to see the exact amount of time, if it adds up to over an hour but it sure seems like it does.
Just seems like alot of oil to burn from May till October ?
Thanks for the info
I just talked to my brother-in-law, he's got his own business in HVAC, who stated that not only are you heating the water for your hot water but your reheating the boiler also. This constant expanding and contracting of the boiler itself can lead to bigger problems down the road, such as a boiler failure which could lead to thousands of dollars in repairs. LEAVE IT ON.Edited 6/6/2008 1:47 pm ET by unionlabel
Edited 6/6/2008 1:48 pm ET by unionlabel
Just to correct you, a furnace produces hot air heat, a boiler uses water and hydro air, baseboard, radiators, etc. for the heat. You have a oil fired boiler and an indirect. Maintaining the temperature is minimal, but what you are doing is not only short cycling the boiler but you are doing cold start up. Instead of coming on and heating the water up a bit, you're asking it heat cool water. Basically its like flooring it from a stop in a car. It causes all kinds of problems with the fittings, etc. but you're beating the #### out of the boiler too and decreasing its efficiency.If you want to save money, look into replacing the boiler and/or indirect. We have a megastor indirect and it is insulated so well that it only loses 1 degree per hour. Also, talk to your service company about turning down your high limit and some other options like a tekmar control and other options that may adjust the way the boiler runs in warmer weather. Depending on your set up, the best option might be a buderus 115 or their new blue flame and a megastor indirect with the logomatic with outdoor reset, etc. In my area the electric company offers rebates and many times there are also state and federal ones too. The numbers might not work for you right now, but its worth a look. Lets face it, oil might stay the same but I doubt it will get much lower. It will probably get higher. We replaced our set up and will save 300 to 500 gallons this year. We had a tankless and not an indirect so that is different than yours but ours will pay for itself fairly quickly.
Thanks for the info
I just talked to my dad in Greenwood lake.
He said it was in the paper that a fellow had a bill of 750 for one month using oil heat.
I dont know what town that was in but it was in Northern NJ.
So i can understand what your thinking is
Perhaps HeatingHelp.com might be an avenue of exploration rather than fine homebuilding. Cheers