American Standard Arcoliner - Control for Domestic Hot Water

[Tom Sawyer]

The only less efficient and costly way to heat would be a fireplace. Before you can even think about getting heat, the boiler has to raise the water temperature to 212 degrees. 1000 gallons a year is what 38 hundred a year at current oil prices. It's insane to keep that old pig. Take out a loan and rip all of that crap out of your house and replace it with forced hot water. If you go with high efficiency stuff you can even get a tax credit

[wallygater]

No way I would ever give up the steam. There`s nothing like it. Best heat period.

[Dana]

With steam systems matching the burner size to the radiator surface area is the most-critical aspect in a replacement scenario.

Oil exhaust condensate is pretty acidic, but most steam boilers operate at a sufficiently high temp that flue condensation is usually minimal. (But after 70 years of oil burning just about any ceramic/masonry flue would be due...)

At 1000 gallons/year of primarily space-heating you'd probably be cutting 300-400 gallons off the annual fuel use with a new steam boiler (they still have plenty of mass- better insulation too.) But if your floor plan was amenable to heating with a mini/multi-split heat pump you might get a better return on investment out of the latter.

Don't be counting on the cost of heating oil to come down for the intermediate term- if anything it's poised to RISE again as the world economy picks up. Heating oil shares the same fraction of a barrel of oil with diesel, which is the fuel-of-choice in Europe these days, and in much of the developing world. During the peak of '08 people were saying we'd never see $3 heating oil again- I was of the opposing view then (and I turned out to be right) but I also believed at that time (and still do) that there is $5 heating oil in our none-too-distant future too. By contrast natural gas pricing it likely to remain relatively stable, or at least take a lower inflation track with lower volatility than oil, due to the large domestic reserves of shale-gas discovered in NY/PA. If you're anywhere near a gas main, biting the bullet on gas service might be "worth it" if/when replacing the steam boiler with a newer one, but it's usually a hunk o' change, something that needs a careful financial analysis. But long term, looking at another strategy for heating the place is in the cards. At $3500 year it's already pretty steep, but a sustained price shock like that in 2008 can make all sorts of things "pay back" in very short years.

Ductless mini-split heat pumps can handle most of the load for most of the year, and even at Long Island's ~20cents/kwh rate would be far cheaper to heat with than even $3 oil in your ~50% steam plant, if you follow the arithmetic in the example I did for Olimazzi back on the 25th. Oil in your boiler is almost as expensive as electric baseboards at your current oil & electricity rates, but with a ductless mini-split the same amount of heating costs half as much or even less. (It's about 0.4x as much, or a ~60% discount.) If oil goes up faster than electricity, ductless heat pumps are an even better deal. I don't expect to see oil prices dropping by half.

[dbcoops]

Yes it is old. I think mine is about 60 years old. Yes it is a beast, about yhe size of a voltswagon bug. The one that I have is the same color. It is a steam boiler and has been working very well all of these years. Original everything. New oil gun. And it still produces the DHW through the origial built in coil. And yes, the rust inside this thing is unbelivable.

I just stumbled across this old post - if you still Own the Old American Standard Arcoliner - I will pay for the cost of labor/removal plus $500 toward a new boiler of your choosing if you are interested. Been looking for an old Arcoliner for some time.