Like any piece of equipment, your heating oil boiler will eventually have to be replaced one day. Here are five signs that will help you determine if a replacement system is in order.
Well-designed and properly maintained boilers can last 20 years or more. But why should you hold onto an aging, fuel-guzzling monster that is constantly demanding you feed it more and more oil? This costs a lot of money! You’ll save money on your annual heating costs by replacing your aging boiler with a new, more efficient system. New oil boilers heat your home using significantly less energy compared to older generation equipment. But more on that later in this blog.
Just like your water heater, if you see outward signs of rust on your boiler, its time is running out. A professional inspection may also reveal damage to piping or other boiler components.
Is your old boiler keeping you warm enough? A properly working heating oil boiler should keep you comfortable even on the coldest Massachusetts nights, but a boiler’s operating performance diminishes with the passage of time.
Your boiler’s efficiency slowly degrades the older it gets. Lower efficiency means higher heating costs and things get even more painful when you mix in today’s high heating fuel costs. Add in a higher number of repairs for an old system and this is another strong sign that you would do well to let go of your old oil boiler and upgrade to a new one.
If you depend on your boiler to heat your domestic hot water—and you’re not getting as much hot water as before–this could be a sign of a leaking or corroded coil on the boiler, a warning of potential boiler failure.
The latest oil boilers—along with modern oil furnaces–are small, smart, and super-efficient and can save you 20% or more on your annual heating costs. There are many different equipment options to fit your budget and your local heating oil company has expertise in all types and models of heating oil equipment.
According to the National Oilheat Research Alliance, homeowners now need about 700 gallons less oil to heat their homes each year than they needed in the 1980s. That’s because new, high-efficiency heating systems feature enhanced technology and control capabilities to provide optimal comfort while decreasing energy costs. Another popular feature of modern, high-efficiency heating systems is that they operate significantly quieter than old heaters.
In contrast, heating systems from the “old days” were built with thick metal components that do a poor job at transferring heat. Unfortunately, many of these systems are still in use today and people who hang on to them pay so much more to heat their home than someone who has upgraded their heating oil system in the past few years.
Despite this potential for big savings, many people don’t bother to update their heating system until something major goes wrong. They don’t realize that a new, high-efficiency system could actually pay for itself in a fairly short period of time.
The combination of continually improving ultra-low sulfur Bioheat® fuel with increasingly efficient heating oil systems is the 1-2 punch that will help homeowners save significant money on their heating bills. At the same time, their oil-heated homes will be on the path to becoming carbon-neutral.
To get started on the road to energy savings, reach out to your local heating oil service provider and they’ll be glad to crunch some numbers for you. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much you could save.