Aperron t1_j7vglxj wrote on February 9, 2023 at 6:19 PM

Reply to comment by -Motor- in Seeking Advice: Boiler by Some_Mediocre_Guy

Interestingly enough, the only exception to this is fuel oil.

Oil furnaces and boilers really haven’t suffered the cost reduction engineering the way gas appliances have. You can easily still get 30-40 years of operation out of them as long as someone is cleaning them every year or two and keeping things dialed in, not frequently running out of fuel which can get gunk in the nozzle and cause sooting etc.

Kyzer t1_j7w13lo wrote on February 9, 2023 at 8:24 PM

100% true. You should have more upvotes.

Recently replaced a junk 10yo triangle tube pristige high eff propane boiler with a buderus oil boiler in my own home. This is after pulling my hair out servicing high efficiency boilers and having to replace them when they are only 7-10 years, yet still servicing oil boilers that are older than me!

Aperron t1_j7w1su2 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 8:28 PM

Buderus makes a fine machine.

Agreed, condensing boilers are flimsy, maintenance intensive parts consuming messes most of the time. The efficiency gain is more often than not outweighed by the ridiculously short service life and frequent downtime/costly repairs.

Same goes for inverter driven mini splits, and gas forced air furnaces. Designed for efficiency, and to fail just outside the warranty period.

Some_Mediocre_Guy OP t1_j7xau5e wrote on February 10, 2023 at 1:34 AM

Ok. I know very little on this topic. I was assuming my roughly 37 year old boiler was a massive problem. However, it has been very well-maintained, as far as I've gathered. I'm still near the upper end of that 30-40 year time frame, but I figured it probably should have been replaced 10-15 years ago. Must be the curse of modern living - I just didn't think oil boilers were built to last that long. I appreciate the insight.