I have a 50+ year old hot water boiler in my house that is used for heating. Originally it was oil fired and some time ago, when natural gas was brought down the road it was converted. There is a natural gas burner in there that throws a fairly large yellow flame. After heating last year and it costing $400+ a month to operate this thing in central Ohio in a 2000 sq ft house that seems reasonably well insulated, it doesn't seem to me that this thing is very efficient.

Short of replacing with a new heating unit, is there a way that I can make this more efficient?

I would not be opposed to putting an oil burner back in it if it would make it cheaper to operate.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Doesn't sound like it is getting the right mixture, natural gas should burn a blue flame.

 

Yellow Flame Isn`t Verry Hot, Sounds Like It Needs A Tune Up,
Probably If It Were Berning Correctly It Would Be More Efficent.
I Live In A County That Has Some Of The Nations Largest Natural Gas Storage Areas, And As Soon As I Can Afford It I`m Looking In To A Wood Fired Boiler ,(out Door Stand Alone) Man I Can Get Slab Wood Cheap And It Heats Your House And Your Hot Watter.
Definatelly Efficant, Possibly You Could Hoook One Up To Your Existing Heater.

 

^ Buddy of mine has one. CONSTANTLY cutting wood in the winter. Looks like a little more work than I'm into! Man , I guess I'm just lazy, but the corn burners are looking good too & pelletized wood is going fairly reasonable too! Hard to beat the reliability of good old natural gas though. Mine's never run out! All depends on what your into. He can't leave in the winter cuz there always has to be a fire going. Took out the original boiler. Always gonna get one for a backup he says!

 

If I Get One I`ll Keep My Exsisting Furnace ,and Use It If I Go Away,

 

they make alot of the outside wood boils lately that will burn used oil. i have a used oil furnace that is homade in my shop. burns clean. but must be monitored.

 

same here. since 1981. heats 4 houses. use other means for back-up. havent seen a factory unit that will match it. runs 24/7s in the winter.

 

Claude, last time I went by the Reed City scrap yard, they had some propane tanks piled up that would make a good water jacket. I'm sure they still have some heavy pipe for the fire box, as well as the chimney stack. I've got a stick welder now, for the heavy stuff, and the miller for the lighter. For 60 cents a pound, you can start thinking of picking up pieces and work on it a little at a time. Probably $175 or so for the steel for the firebox, which needs to be assembled and leak checked first. Another $150 or so for a tank in the 4-500 gal. range.

 

I live on top of a mountain at 3,000 feet altitude and it is very cold and windy. I had an outdoor wood furnace and I was never so happy to get rid of something as I was when I found someone to buy that thing. I bet I burned 15-20 cord of wood a year ! I have 3 buddies that have them and can't wait to get rid of them either.
Once I sold it I went with an INDOOR multifuel boiler and put it in my garage. My boiler burns coal/wood and has an oil backup. It is WAY,WAY more efficient than the outdoor wood eater I had. Not to mention the indoor units are around $2,000 cheaper than the outdoor models and they aren't being banned by local politicians. If you don't have a coal supply in your area I would suggest a gasifying boiler ( see link) my co worker has one and he loves it.
AS far as the pellet stoves, I used to have one of those for the spring chilly evenings and it worked O.K. but you are at the mercy of the pellet makers $$$. Also, if the power goes out, so does your heat source.

PM me if you have any questions about the "WoodGun" or the multifuel boiler.

BTW, I don't sell them or anything. I am just a satisfied owner.

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/index.htm

 

my thought are to build an outside used oil boiler and heat a good thousand gallons to 185 or so and hold it in an insulated tank and use it to heat the house with solar tubes in addition to heat also . here is a picture of my burner in my used oil stove. no aircompresser just a fan and a drip system.

 

He just needs to get a backup.

My folks heat with wood, have since they moved into the house in 1983.

Every summer/fall we would haul in the wood for the winter. Normally 3-4 cords. (well insulated house that isn't super big)

Anyhow, they have a small oil fired furnance for a back up. We just leave it set to like 50* in case someone would forget to throw wood in the stove or no one was going to be home for a few days.

Also is great on those chilly spring/fall days where it's not worth making a fire.

My Dad has the same setup in his shop.


As for cutting wood, you can get it delivered cut and split back home. My Dad messed up his back last year and had to do that. It was around $100-120 a cord I believe. So figure ~$600 a year for heat for the house and shop. (wood and oil) Get's pretty cold in Maine too (see -46* before)

 

I have an indoor swimming pool. When I was looking for a means to heat the pool and the 1000 sqft room it is in I wasn't sure whether to go with two systems, a pool heater and a forced air furnace. I wanted to have forced air heating to keep all the glass doors clear in the winter and have good recovery but didn't want an outdoor pool heater. At the time (about 4 years ago) NTI introduced a new gas boiler with 4 different models. Two have unlimited domestic hot water the other two are just heaters they come in two sizes 150000 and 200000 BTU. They have a rating of 97.4% efficient and archive this by means of a computer controlled variable gas vlv. They are incredible, I chose the smallest one 150,000 but it heats the pool and room with no troubles for the last 4 years. Up here we're at around 2500 ft and it get's very cold in the winter -30 to -40 deg C. This boiler is so fuel efficient and has a stainless steel boiler I would recommend it in an instant. It's very simple in it's construction, I installed the whole system myself. Just google NTI and check it out.

 

If your thinking of a wood boiler. This is the Central Boiler unit that I have.
(6) 8" - 10" logs for 24Hrs at around mid 30's

I think it is a great unit.