Contractors vs Handyman

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

The only reason I thought we needed a new boiler was because the home inspector recommended it (over 30 years) and the Mass Save energy audit guy did too. The previous owners said their heating bill was $400/mo in winter so that kinda scared me too. The water heater is 12 years old, should I at least replace that?

We just got new floors and windows so I figured new heating was more important than the cosmetic stuff. But maybe we can ride it out if there's nothing wrong with the boiler.

Get a qualified tech to come clean and inspect - anyone else is merely providing conjecture. 'Standard' iron boilers, as others have stated, are both extremely simple and reliable. They're non-condensing, so they generally don't have the acidity issues found in modern high efficiency units and, in the case of natural gas, burn very cleanly (minimal particulates).

At 30+ years you're approaching end of life, but you may get another 10+ years depending on condition. It's your capital.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Get a qualified tech to come clean and inspect - anyone else is merely providing conjecture. 'Standard' iron boilers, as others have stated, are both extremely simple and reliable. They're non-condensing, so they generally don't have the acidity issues found in modern high efficiency units and, in the case of natural gas, burn very cleanly (minimal particulates).

At 30+ years you're approaching end of life, but you may get another 10+ years depending on condition. It's your capital.

The boiler is 39 years old now. I'll get a tech to come out.

We do have an insulation contractor scheduled through Mass Save, although it says the insulation is contingent upon getting a new boiler and water heater. I didn't know they would require those to be replaced for insulation.

The walls are mostly insulated. The insulation they recommend are: door sweep, air sealing, exterior door weather stripping, hatch thermal barrier, kneewall thermal barrier, attic floor open blow cellulose, bath fan - vent to roof, and damming which would all cost $361 after incentive/rebate.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

We do have an insulation contractor scheduled through Mass Save, although it says the insulation is contingent upon getting a new boiler and water heater. I didn't know they would require those to be replaced for insulation.

This makes sense as insulation isn't 1:1 in terms of efficiency. Once you exceed r20, the efficiency gains start to really plateau.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

A home inspector will recommend replacing dozens of unnecessary things. [b]Mass Save wants you to get more efficient, so they will definitely recommend replacing out of date equipment.

I had a MassSave inspection and within mins of them leaving, I felt it was more of a sales pitch to get me to just blanket replace anything old.

Ended up doing a lot of stuff by myself. LED bulbs dropped my electric bill approx. $20/month. As I was redoing window trim, I discovered many of the windows lacked adequate insulation around them. I added that. Added more insulation in the attic and discovered that one wall in my attic was now a side wall for the addition that was later added and did not have any insulation allowing a lot of heat to escape. Fixed that issue. Discovered all my recessed lighting (30 or so cans) had the insulation cut and pulled away and left like that. Bought some recessed lighting insulating buckets and then insulated around that. Built an insulated box cover for my attic door. Added a few smart thermostats as well. First winter in the house had some $375-400 bills in that cold Jan-Mar stretch. Last winter, my highest was $275ish.

My boiler is 30 years old, and the ROI to replace it just isn't there. I have parts diagrams for it, and parts are still readily available. Going to run it as long as I can and had a plumber friend recommend I do so vs buying something newer and more complex.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I had a MassSave inspection and within mins of them leaving, I felt it was more of a sales pitch to get me to just blanket replace anything old.

Ended up doing a lot of stuff by myself. LED bulbs dropped my electric bill approx. $20/month. As I was redoing window trim, I discovered many of the windows lacked adequate insulation around them. I added that. Added more insulation in the attic and discovered that one wall in my attic was now a side wall for the addition that was later added and did not have any insulation allowing a lot of heat to escape. Fixed that issue. Discovered all my recessed lighting (30 or so cans) had the insulation cut and pulled away and left like that. Bought some recessed lighting insulating buckets and then insulated around that. Built an insulated box cover for my attic door. Added a few smart thermostats as well. First winter in the house had some $375-400 bills in that cold Jan-Mar stretch. Last winter, my highest was $275ish.

My boiler is 30 years old, and the ROI to replace it just isn't there. I have parts diagrams for it, and parts are still readily available. Going to run it as long as I can and had a plumber friend recommend I do so vs buying something newer and more complex.

They didn't give you LED bulbs? They gave us 36 LED bulbs, 3 low flow shower heads and 2 power strips for free.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

They didn't give you LED bulbs? They gave us 36 LED bulbs, 3 low flow shower heads and 2 power strips for free.

I changed them out before I had the MassSave inspection. I was already in process of improving things when I was convinced to get them to come in.

I would have swapped out their bulbs anyway. I'm picky about how many lumens and what k value the bulbs are given the specific room they are in.

Real quick numbers off the top of my head, there were 25 cans that had a 75 watt bulb in it, and 18 cans with 35 watt bulbs and a few misc other fixtures. I swapped those all to LEDs, and the savings paid off the cost of bulbs in 6 months. Made a very noticeable dent in the electric bill.

[bugelrex]

If i really need to replace a very old furnace, does one just go to home depot and ask the sales person to recommend and then have their contractor to install? And the rebate paperwork..

Or is it better to find a plumber and take their recommendation and let them install?

Sorry if this sounds dumb..

[wolfgang239]

You are better off doing some research yourself first. Figure out what kind of system you have, what benefits there are to spending a few extra dollars and how many rebates are available

Once you do that you can start finding plumbers/hvac pros who install the equipment and ask for their opinion. If you have a specific brand you find you want through researching see if they have factory training and experience. Many folks will show up, take one look and quote you something you may not want or need and want to slide the old one out and slap the new one in with minimal prep work. Don't go for that, it was amazing how many plumbers didn't want to re work my near boiler piping as part of installing my steam system.

Armed with your little bit of knowledge and around 3 quotes you can run some numbers. Will that $5000 extra you'll spend on a super efficient european unit ever pay off once you figure efficiency numbers and maintenance costs? Are there bigger rebates available for more efficient units?

You can just go with what a company says but it is possible you'll get ripped off or may be upset when it doesn't perform in the way you expected.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

You are better off doing some research yourself first. Figure out what kind of system you have, what benefits there are to spending a few extra dollars and how many rebates are available

Thank you so much for your response. I actually care more about reliability than efficiency. Sawyer recommended
utica/burnham/buderus brand which I'll look into. .. definitely its very easy to get ripped off here