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NWBuilder · Post by **NWBuilder** » Thu. Mar. 20, 2014 9:22 am

Welcome to the Forum BF,
All I will say is that if heat is your primary concern then stretching for a boiler is the way to go. I put one in my place 3 years ago and it has paid for itself in oil price savings already and I keep my house 8° warmer. It is a huge difference. I know the aesthetics aren't there with a boiler but I will take huge savings and NO OIL BILL any day. You can always put a hand fired unit in later for the cats if you so desire. Just my 2 cents. Best of luck! Ken

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Mar. 20, 2014 9:34 am

Everyone has different circumstances. If a hand-fired stove is all you can afford right now, that pretty much settles it.

Here is a thread from a few years back with some info relevant to your decision.

Stoves or Central Heat? Boilers Vs. Furnaces

DePippo79 · Post by **DePippo79** » Fri. Mar. 21, 2014 3:07 am

Welcome bruins_fan. I'll give my thoughts. I too have an older home. 1880. Love/hate relationship. Original windows and no insulation in main house that I know of. Sick of hearing old homes are drafty. Sitting in my computer room with two 5' by 4' and one 5' by 2 1/2' two over one lead glass windows and I feel nothing. Near the ocean so it gets pretty windy here sometimes. Anyway that's another topic. Boiler vs. hand fed parlor stove, hmmm. If you want complete even heat and a set it and forget it approach boiler is the way to go. It sounds like the house your looking at could be a big ol colonial going by the build date. But if your passionate about fire or want to relive the past a couple of old antiques would probably fit right in.
Here's my experience. I wanted a boiler but at the time I started researching coal I couldn't find a HVAC guy to install a coal boiler along with my oil boiler. Forced hot water, indirect domestic hot water, original cast iron radiators. Didn't feel comfortable doing it myself yet and winter was fast approaching. After my first season heating solely by oil I had to do something. Started looking into hand fed stoves and decided on a antique Glenwood. Wife and I are big into the Victorian era.
Installation. Wanted stove in my computer room, but lost that battle to my wife. She said it takes up to much space and the other rooms have floor to ceiling fireplace mantels so unfortunately the Glenwood had to go in the basement. Fortunately I had a good flue I could use. Use to be for the kitchen stove.
Numbers. No supplement with oil house never goes below 60 deg. with just the stove. regardless of outside temps. Temps above 20 deg. One side of house always 70-75 deg. Other side 65-72 deg. Upstairs bedrooms 65 deg. If I let the house cool off or the wife forgets to add coal while I'm at work I'll have to supplement with the oil heat. Usually have to run the central heat once or twice a day regardless if temps get below 20 deg. Depends. I'm sure most people would be happy with those numbers. Wife and I like being warm. I like walking around in my t-shirt. If I put a sweater on we probably wouldn't need the oil. Another story. Now for cost. I'm saving at least 2-3 hundred dollars a month on heating. March of last year I burned 205 gallons of oil, March of this year 53 gals. so far. Alot colder this season. I should also mention my house also has the original floor plan as built. I can burn 80+ lbs. of coal a day easily if it's real cold out.
I love my antique, but eventually I would like to get a coal boiler. Would be nice to add the barn as a zone. Plus I love the heat the cast iron radiators give off. In closing if your possible house is near Hampton feel free to contact me, even if it's not. Your more than welcome to stop by and experience coal heat first hand. Hope you get your old house. You'll enjoy it. Old houses have souls. Matt

Bruins_Fan · Post by **Bruins_Fan** » Fri. Mar. 21, 2014 1:06 pm

Thanks again for all the helpful replies. You all have me thinking...IF we get the house (still TBD) maybe we should look good and hard at a coal boiler? If we wanted to tie that into the oil boiler, will that drive the price sky high? I'm just starting to peruse the boiler threads, so feel free to point me to any good ones

. I'm thinking we could probably pay for that install in a matter of a few years considering how expensive fuel oil is these days, considering that house will likely cost $5-6k in oil to heat.

Carbon12 · Post by **Carbon12** » Fri. Mar. 21, 2014 6:42 pm

Tying the coal boiler into the existing oil boiler will actually be cheaper that installing an independent coal boiler. You can use all the existing oil boiler pumps and zones and whatnot.

NWBuilder · Post by **NWBuilder** » Fri. Mar. 21, 2014 7:08 pm

If you have a spare flue in the basement you can put the boiler in series with the existing oil boiler,if not you could always look into a
leisure line which also burns oil so you still have the black gold as a back up. There are a lot of really good boilers out there just see which one will suit your needs the best. Used or reconditioned is always a good alternative.

Bruins_Fan · Post by **Bruins_Fan** » Wed. Apr. 23, 2014 12:22 pm

We're under agreement for that old house.

Just need to sell ours!

And I've decided we will be getting a coal boiler. No way I'm paying for all that oil in that house!

NWBuilder · Post by **NWBuilder** » Wed. Apr. 23, 2014 12:31 pm

congratulations best of luck with the new house.

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Wed. Apr. 23, 2014 1:03 pm

Bruins_Fan wrote: I'm just starting to peruse the boiler threads, so feel free to point me to any good ones .

A basic understanding of systems would be your first step to help us advise you
maybe start here
http://www.heatinghelp.com/article-cate ... /Hot-Water

be sure to catch this one
http://www.heatinghelp.com/article-cate ... er-Heating

some of these threads would be good to read - some not -
https://coalpail.com/coal-forum/search.php?ke ... mit=Search

another good place to read about these systems is
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/prim ... ers.11837/

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