Recommendations for replacing a gas boiler?

We currently have a Slant-fin, 15 or 20 years old, and it's cracked. Had worked well since we moved in in 1998, so I assume we need to replace it with a similar capacity device.

Info on the side says:

DOE 104,000 BTU/hr output

AGA 126,000 BTU/hr input

From what I read, high-efficiency models are not yet cost-effective, as one is unlikely to recoup price and installation expense until near the end of the unit's life-expectancy. So I guess we'd go with a conventional model.

Our hot water heater is getting pretty old, too. Any advantage to replacing both at the same time?

Advice, please, and thanks in advance!

Is this for hot water or steam?

Steam.

So you don't have an option for a high efficiency boiler anyway. You might want to think about an indirect water heater. You can gain some good efficiency there over a standard gas-fired tank type unit. Try to stay with Burnham, Weil-McLain, or Peerless. The other brands are cheaply made and have a lot of exposed parts.

master_plvmber said:
So you don't have an option for a high efficiency boiler anyway. You might want to think about an indirect water heater. You can gain some good efficiency there over a standard gas-fired tank type unit. Try to stay with Burnham, Weil-McLain, or Peerless. The other brands are cheaply made and have a lot of exposed parts.

Thanks M_P. Are the high-efficiency models only available for forced air and hot water systems?

I had heard Weil-McLain was good, and the others are brands I've heard of over the years, but I don't know much about any of them.

What is an indirect water heater?

Oh, wait, I see. An indirect hot water heater gets connected to the boiler, which circulates water through coils in the hot H2O tank.

More efficient, but if one appliance goes down they both go down, so I'm not sure about this.

We got both a new boiler and a 50-gallon water at the same time two summers ago. Used LESCO out of Caldwell since we'd been using them through our American Home Shield policy and were happy with the price and installation.

JCSO said:
Oh, wait, I see. An indirect hot water heater gets connected to the boiler, which circulates water through coils in the hot H2O tank.
More efficient, but if one appliance goes down they both go down, so I'm not sure about this.

We have an indirect system in our new home. I'm no expert (at all!), but our inspector indicated they are more efficient during the winter, but not so much in the months when you don't need to heat the house. This makes intuitive sense to me.

mjh said:

JCSO said:
Oh, wait, I see. An indirect hot water heater gets connected to the boiler, which circulates water through coils in the hot H2O tank.
More efficient, but if one appliance goes down they both go down, so I'm not sure about this.

We have an indirect system in our new home. I'm no expert (at all!), but our inspector indicated they are more efficient during the winter, but not so much in the months when you don't need to heat the house. This makes intuitive sense to me.

Yeah, that's just wrong. Because they don't burn fuel on their own they don't have a comparable efficiency rating. They borrow the efficiency rating of the boiler. The more efficient boiler you've got, the more efficiently you'll make hot water. The traditional tank-type gas or oil fired hot water heater runs at about 70% efficiency under good conditions when brand new. Any new boiler you buy, even one not labeled as "high efficiency" will run for years at 80%-85% efficiency. H.E. boilers commonly go as high as 98% efficiency.

Yes the payback is realized best in heating season, but over the course of a year, you can't compare the cost of making hot water with an indirect water heater vs a gas or oil fired tank.