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Posted by HeatPro on November 30, 2005 at 21:34:35:
In Reply to: Burnham PIN6 posted by Peter on November 30, 2005 at 20:45:11:
The specs for this unit are 175,000MBH input
+++ which is the amount of gas heat that will be used.
, DOECap MBH 144
+++ The amount of heat that will come out of the boiler as steam heat.
and I B R = 108 MBH for steam.
+++ the amount of radiation it can support for heating radiation. If the house already has 108,000 btuh of radiation or a little less, then it can be used. The IBR rating allows for pipe and weight of radiation to heat all the metal.
Is this last spec what it actually puts out for BTU's?
+++ It is more than the btuh that the boiler puts out, but you need to reduce the amount you know is put out as steam to allow the radiators and pipes to heat up and lose heat from the pipe surfaces. The IBR rating allows for that by deducting 25% from the DOE output.
I can buy it for only $500 but I am concerned that it might be too big for my house. I roughly tried to figure out heat loss with the calculator on the Burnham site and I come up with roughly 67,600.
+++ it is more heat than your house needs if your heat estimate is correct. In fact, it could heat your house and my house together. My house needs 28,000 btuh, so I will have a gas bill 1/3 rd of yours each month.
Is this unit too big or is it such a steal I shouldn't be too concerned?
+++ You need to say if you have a steam system in your house and are just replacing a boiler or are you planning to use this boiler and put a new heating system in the house? You need to have close to the IBR output in radiation to match the boiler.
The boiler puts out twice as much heat as the estimated heat loss of the home, so you can't hope to have it run more than half the hour in the coldest weather, so it will have short cycles most of the year. It is better to use a boiler with a little more heat than the IBR rating, but not grossly more than needed, unless you have grossly oversized steam lines.
Another point is that the warrantee is void if not installed by a qualified installation company; read that warrantee first. You would have no recourse for a leak.