Another Major Project - the Boiler

Today marks the very beginning stages of a major project for the enhancement of this house.

We have been talking for a few years now about replacing our very old  boiler. It may be original to the house which puts it over 100 years old.

A couple of years ago, our friend Mark came across a Rheem Boiler that will hang on the wall. It became available through the Plumbing Supply company he worked for. This unit had been special ordered, canceled, and sat on their shelf for a year before they decided to throw it away. Mark was able to snag it and gave it to us. I assume we are savings a couple thousand right off the bat. 

You will note a slight dent in the front of the boiler which is why they were going to throw it away.

One issue was that we had no idea if this boiler unit was compatible with our house. As I said, it has been sitting in our basement for at least two years while we have debated over proceeding with this project.

Today, we had Zane and Isaiah from Element Air come by to give us a bid on replacing the boiler. 

They looked over the new unit and thought that it was sufficient for the house.

They took lots of pictures and had a good look around to check out the project.

One thing that has to happen is removing the old, asbestos encrusted boiler. Zane said he will be contacting a guy for that aspect of the job.

The advantages of moving forward with this project are multifold. First we are replacing a very old boiler with a newer, more efficient model. The new unit hangs on the wall which will open up a lot of square footage when the old boiler is gone.

Best of all, the new unit will also provide our hot water. It is one of those instant-on hot water units as well as a boiler to heat the house. 

We will be eliminating TWO hot water heaters that are well over 20 years old. I think the savings compared to what we are paying to heat this place now will more than pay for itself in a very short time. Plus, we will be gaining a little more square footage where the hot water tanks used to be.

We are not planning on moving forward with this project until May…maybe even the first of June. In the meantime, we are waiting to hear from Zane and from the Asbestos Abatement Guy.