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Old 12-12-10, 10:45 PM   #25
Xringer
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
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Our boiler has a 76 gallon water jacket, and once it's heated up in the morning,
it can provide enough hot water for our daily needs. And it's even hotter
if there is some solar assist.

When things are going well, and the weather isn't too crazy, we use 1/2 gallon of oil a day typically.
During sunny weather, the timed 1/2 hour burns are sometimes actually about 20 minutes.

At our last fill up we paid $2.59 a gallon, so it's costing us about $39.39 per month.

The oil burner is our main backup heat, so we need to keep it in good shape.
We need to be confident that it will power up and heat the house when we need it.
So, running it 1/2 hour a day is about the best way I know to insure it's good to go.

I can't really justify buying an electric hot water heater, just for summer use.
As you know, sometimes we don't get much of a summer.. Like in 2009..
Yeah? wasn't 2009 the year when global warming gave us an 800 hour summer?


Although, I would really love one of those heat-pump hw heaters for summer use..
It would keep the basement air dry too.

Since we use GSW (Geo-Slab-Warmth) downstairs, I think our basement
is a little too cold in the winter time for much heat to be pulled out of it's air.
I want to be able to go down to my shop, without wearing a parka..

Cheers,
Rich
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