Forced Hot Water Heating -Zoning

[BobRock2112]

Hello, we are looking at a foreclosed home to purchase and live in. While empty it was broken into and the copper removed from the cellar (all water and forced hot water copper piping). They also damaged the oil burner enough that it needs to be replaced.

The home is single level, about 1,400 sf in Maine. Decent insulation and vinyl siding. We will also have a wood stove. My questions:

1) Would a 100,000 btu oil burner be enough? What is the cheapest we can get away with and the approximate cost?

2) Since all the piping has to be replaced in the cellar (forced hot water heat), would it cost much more to have zones? There is a room we won't use much that we'd like the heat lower in and when we are in the living toom, why have the bedrooms at the same temp if no one is in them?

We are on an extremely tight budget as our credit is bad and we are paying cash for the house with what we have saved and are hoping to get away with repair costs that are as affordable as possible. So, we aren't looking for anything fancy.

3) Last but not least, would a Wood/Oil Furnace be around the same price?

Thanks!

Bob

 

[johnjh2o]

Hello, we are looking at a foreclosed home to purchase and live in. While empty it was broken into and the copper removed from the cellar (all water and forced hot water copper piping). They also damaged the oil burner enough that it needs to be replaced.

The home is single level, about 1,400 sf in Maine. Decent insulation and vinyl siding. We will also have a wood stove. My questions:

1) Would a 100,000 btu oil burner be enough? What is the cheapest we can get away with and the approximate cost?

2) Since all the piping has to be replaced in the cellar (forced hot water heat), would it cost much more to have zones? There is a room we won't use much that we'd like the heat lower in and when we are in the living toom, why have the bedrooms at the same temp if no one is in them?

We are on an extremely tight budget as our credit is bad and we are paying cash for the house with what we have saved and are hoping to get away with repair costs that are as affordable as possible. So, we aren't looking for anything fancy.

3) Last but not least, would a Wood/Oil Furnace be around the same price?

Thanks!

Bob

The first thing that MUST be done is take a heat loss on the home to size the boiler. To small or to large a boiler will waste fuel. Seeing that all the copper has been removed you can rezone the home to your needs. I would also look into using PEX pipe instead of copper. As far as a combo wood and oil boiler most codes do not allow the same chimney to be used for two different fuels.

John