Switching from gas to electric boiler/hot water heater?

[nittanycheme]

My gas boiler, which supplies my hot water baseboard heat, is probably nearing the end of its life.  My neighbor just had his gas boiler/gas water heater replaced (in addition to replacing a bunch of their gas line due to a leak) with a combined boiler/water heater wall mounted unit for a little over $20K.  One of things that the installers needed to do was created an exterior air intake line in addition to the exhaust line which was already there, which I've read is needed for most of the new higher-efficiency gas boilers.  While I would like to do something similar, based upon the location of my boiler and hot water heater, I don't think they can easily install an exterior air line.  It is essentially in an interior corner of my finished basement, in my split level house.  So, it is in a room in the finished basement, with the garage on the other side (you need to take about 6 steps to go from the basement to the garage), and a sunroom/concrete patio on the back side.  I had already been considering switching over to an electric boiler system, since ideally we would install solar panels within the next couple of years on our house.  Based on my research, the electric boilers don't need the venting since they don't have combustion occuring.  I think I have enough amperage in the box left - we upgraded to 200 amp a few year ago and there are a lot of empty circuits in the breaker box.

Opinions?  My DH is not very helpful in discussions like this, although apparently my environmentalism is slowly wearing off on him so he seems open to solar now, especially since you can get batteries for storage.  i think its been helped by the fact that we have a well, and have recently had some extended power outages - and no power means no water which means no handwashing for Mr Clean!

[ArchietheDragon]

IMHO I would not switch from gas back to electric.   Installing a high efficient gas boiler would be ideal, but not necessary.  What if you just replaced the current gas boiler with a similar non-high efficent gas boiler that vents through the chimney? 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 14, 2022 10:59:00 GMT -5 nittanycheme said:

My gas boiler, which supplies my hot water baseboard heat, is probably nearing the end of its life.  My neighbor just had his gas boiler/gas water heater replaced (in addition to replacing a bunch of their gas line due to a leak) with a combined boiler/water heater wall mounted unit for a little over $20K.  One of things that the installers needed to do was created an exterior air intake line in addition to the exhaust line which was already there, which I've read is needed for most of the new higher-efficiency gas boilers.  While I would like to do something similar, based upon the location of my boiler and hot water heater, I don't think they can easily install an exterior air line.  It is essentially in an interior corner of my finished basement, in my split level house.  So, it is in a room in the finished basement, with the garage on the other side (you need to take about 6 steps to go from the basement to the garage), and a sunroom/concrete patio on the back side.  I had already been considering switching over to an electric boiler system, since ideally we would install solar panels within the next couple of years on our house.  Based on my research, the electric boilers don't need the venting since they don't have combustion occuring.  I think I have enough amperage in the box left - we upgraded to 200 amp a few year ago and there are a lot of empty circuits in the breaker box.

Opinions?  My DH is not very helpful in discussions like this, although apparently my environmentalism is slowly wearing off on him so he seems open to solar now, especially since you can get batteries for storage.  i think its been helped by the fact that we have a well, and have recently had some extended power outages - and no power means no water which means no handwashing for Mr Clean!

I agree with Archie, especially if you have extended power outages.  

[countrygirl2]

Know that the batteries will just power some of your house. Like a whole house generator you just have so many circuits you can use. We talked about a whole house genny, would have had to be 25kw to power the geo thermal and we figured out the gas cost was prohibitive.

And we considered batteries, would have added an extra $20k to the cost of solar. So we have an 8k 
13k surge stand alone genny. We can plug in with extension cords, the 2 fridges, 2 freezers, a lamp or 2 and some space heaters if needed. I paid a $1000 or so for it some years ago. In Texas we also used it to power the water pump on the well. It would also run the washer but not the dryer. The surge is what's important, if you have 2 or 3 things kick on at the same time, can it handle it?

I do LOVE the solar, we have 32 panels and the last year our electric bill has averaged about $105 a month since the utility has finally sorted it out. But we are on net metering which makes a huge difference.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 14, 2022 23:47:08 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Know that the batteries will just power some of your house. Like a whole house generator you just have so many circuits you can use. We talked about a whole house genny, would have had to be 25kw to power the geo thermal and we figured out the gas cost was prohibitive.

And we considered batteries, would have added an extra $20k to the cost of solar. So we have an 8k 
13k surge stand alone genny. We can plug in with extension cords, the 2 fridges, 2 freezers, a lamp or 2 and some space heaters if needed. I paid a $1000 or so for it some years ago. In Texas we also used it to power the water pump on the well. It would also run the washer but not the dryer. The surge is what's important, if you have 2 or 3 things kick on at the same time, can it handle it?

I do LOVE the solar, we have 32 panels and the last year our electric bill has averaged about $105 a month since the utility has finally sorted it out. But we are on net metering which makes a huge difference.

So you are paying for solar power what we are paying for electricity without?  That’s nuts!

[countrygirl2]

Here we would be paying $250 to $300 or more a month. Our utility is the second highest in the state. For 3 months the % increase was 17%, now 7%. And they are going to go higher. I have heard locally of $500 and up utility bills. People aren't using dryers and all sorts of ways trying to save.

My son says his electric is cheap in Washington, ours is not. He is going to convert from gas to an electric heat pump soon as they get the utility breaks the government is giving sorted out.

[nittanycheme]

Nov 14, 2022 23:47:08 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

Know that the batteries will just power some of your house. Like a whole house generator you just have so many circuits you can use. We talked about a whole house genny, would have had to be 25kw to power the geo thermal and we figured out the gas cost was prohibitive.

And we considered batteries, would have added an extra $20k to the cost of solar. So we have an 8k 
13k surge stand alone genny. We can plug in with extension cords, the 2 fridges, 2 freezers, a lamp or 2 and some space heaters if needed. I paid a $1000 or so for it some years ago. In Texas we also used it to power the water pump on the well. It would also run the washer but not the dryer. The surge is what's important, if you have 2 or 3 things kick on at the same time, can it handle it?

I do LOVE the solar, we have 32 panels and the last year our electric bill has averaged about $105 a month since the utility has finally sorted it out. But we are on net metering which makes a huge difference.

That is good to know.  I didn't think about the battery not being able to run everything if we would go that route.  And even our gas boiler needs electric - since its hot water baseboard, there are circulating pumps to pump the hot water around.  I was thinking about the tax breaks if you go more efficient, but it may not be worth it with the extra cost.  And since my boiler is from 1991, even the lower grades are probably more efficient at this point.  I know when my parents got a new steam boiler for their steam heat, the new one was probably about 1/3 size of the old one and their gas bill dropped quite a bit.  My gas rate is relatively cheap compared to my electric, although my electric cost isn't awful.  Its higher than it used to be now that I'm mostly working from home.  But I got a new job at my company, and if I had to commute, it would be much more $$ than the increase in my electric bill (as well as a lot more stress, and way too much time on the road).

Thanks for the opinions, and its good know the solar is working out for you countrygirl!  We have a neighbor that put in panels a few years ago (maybe 5 or 6?), and apparently they've paid for themselves already.  He's happy with them, and he's the type of guy who isn't usually happy about much.  Do you mind saying how much it was for your panels and installation?