Going bigger, and bigger in boiler size does not even make sense. Like I said, 80% of heat loss is through attic. He has NO insulation in his attic. By restricting his flow going up stairs, his room temps jump to 72*. If he insulates his attic, That Kaa-2 will EASILY heat his little 900 square foot house. And do it on a fraction of the coal he now uses. The Kaa-2 keeps my 1700 square foot (average insulation) house at 73*. And that's below zero, up on a windy hill. If he does the work himself, what's it going to cost? $400.00, maybe $500.00 in insulation. It's a one time deal..........EarthWindandFire wrote:I've read this thread with keen interest because my house is the same size as the OP. It's clear that with significant heat loss, the Kaa-2 is not large enough for even a small home if not well-insulated.
So, what does the OP do for next year?
Should he sell the Kaa-2 and buy the larger Kaa-4 or better yet, the KA-6. This board has taught me that size matters, and you can never have enough btu's. I would rather complain about unburned coal in the ash pan from an idling boiler than be in a situation where the house is cold because the 5 or 6 thousand dollar boiler I bought is too small.
Just posting an opinion.....
Problems With KAA-2 Temps.
- oliver power
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- windyhill4.2
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kstills,After 15 + yrs of being warm in our house heated with wood at 72*-74*,there is no way I am wearing a hoodie in the house to keep warm.Insulate,yes,if installed heating unit is too small for the few frigid days that come our way,i would chose to supplement with electric heaters to maintain the level of warmth I have chosen to maintain my cold weather sanity. It's cold outside,no reason to be cold inside too. So the electric costs an extra $100.00 for the winter,that is far cheaper than to swap boilers just for those 5-15 day/nites per winter that the boiler comes up short.Burn coal,stay warm.
- Carbon12
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Didn't he say there is no attic insulation and that adding any was impossible because of the type of roof he has???
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Thats simply not true. Difficult? maybe ,but not impossible....Carbon12 wrote:Didn't he say there is no attic insulation and that adding any was impossible because of the type of roof he has???
- windyhill4.2
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You can always tear the ceiling down, insulate & install new ceiling,not that terribly expensive on that small house.There are other ways to get the job done too,my example just shows that it is not impossible & doesn't have to be very expensive,like replacing the boiler would be,And it would cut fuel use too which wouldn't happen by just installing a bigger boiler.waldo lemieux wrote:Thats simply not true. Difficult? maybe ,but not impossible....Carbon12 wrote:Didn't he say there is no attic insulation and that adding any was impossible because of the type of roof he has???
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All else equal bigger boilers tend to have larger heat exchange surfaces and may be capable of producing a given quantity of usable BTU's with less coal than a smaller boiler would require.windyhill4.2 wrote:And it would cut fuel use too which wouldn't happen by just installing a bigger boiler.
Mike
- EarthWindandFire
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He may live in a New England style Cape like myself. These type of houses have no attic and lack any reasonable means to add insulation without gutting the entire second floor. Women and children don't like having the walls and ceilings ripped out very much, it makes them cry and nag you to death.
- windyhill4.2
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No attic, then pull the ceiling & insulate the rafters,but I think he just doesn't understand the attic term. Attic's are not all designed to walk around up there,some you have to crawl,but most all buildings have an air space considered an attic. Pacowy,i wasn't inferring that a bigger boiler would use more fuel,but that if left uninsulated will use more fuel as it will be able to pump all the heat needed,still clear as mud ?? that's my best explanation,sorry. Most women & children & me do not like being cold in the house either. Tear the roof off & insulate it that way,roof probably needs updated anyway.
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Insulate, that's what I had an old oil boiler in there that was some 40k BTU bigger, and never had issues with that. The money it costs to have the place properly insulated is money well spent. Having someone blow in cellulose from the outside should not be more than a few grand. I pay on average $135/mo to heat and do hot water for this house at 70 for 90% of the winter, 3x less than oil. It is only the single digit temps and below that make the kaa2 struggle.EarthWindandFire wrote:I've read this thread with keen interest because my house is the same size as the OP. It's clear that with significant heat loss, the Kaa-2 is not large enough for even a small home if not well-insulated.
So, what does the OP do for next year?
Should he sell the Kaa-2 and buy the larger Kaa-4 or better yet, the KA-6. This board has taught me that size matters, and you can never have enough btu's. I would rather complain about unburned coal in the ash pan from an idling boiler than be in a situation where the house is cold because the 5 or 6 thousand dollar boiler I bought is too small.
Just posting an opinion.....
and yes, I live in one of those houses without an attic as well. even worse, I have an aluminium roof.
- windyhill4.2
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farrell2k,an aluminum roof ? no attic or top crawl space at all ?? what kind of house is this anyway ??
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No attic. All I'd have to do is rent a blower from home depot, cut a few holes in the ceiling and blow it between the rafters. that's not a hard job, but a messy one. A job for the summer months.windyhill4.2 wrote:No attic, then pull the ceiling & insulate the rafters,but I think he just doesn't understand the attic term. Attic's are not all designed to walk around up there,some you have to crawl,but most all buildings have an air space considered an attic. Pacowy,i wasn't inferring that a bigger boiler would use more fuel,but that if left uninsulated will use more fuel as it will be able to pump all the heat needed,still clear as mud ?? that's my best explanation,sorry. Most women & children & me do not like being cold in the house either. Tear the roof off & insulate it that way,roof probably needs updated anyway.
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You really need that roof to breath some, blowing in anything is not a good idea until you get some opinions about your kind of structure. I built houses for 27 years and can offer some suggestions and so can many other in here. Just give us some info and maybe some pictures to go by. There is a wealth of info in the members here, even if we don't always agree.
Kevin
Kevin
- windyhill4.2
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Don't wait for the HOT summer months to do it ,you will sweat your self into a real mess KLook,what are you talking about ? even IF we don't always agree ??