Recommend a home boiler

[pgaorchards]

My Laars mini therm is done I need to replace with a 140000btu boiler. So many choices can someone recommend a brand that they like

[I Think]

Am looking at this for my home, thinking about a Bosch tankless hot water heater available in up to 199,000 btu and are relatively inexpensive, am using small one now. Heating water hooked for my hot tub, in past heated 380 US gallons of 50 def f water to 112 deg in one non recirculating fill. ( now use wood for cost reasons).
Would like to hear your thoughts.

[Lake City Mechanical]

Good Day,

I have a ton of experience with boiler systems, basically it depends what you are looking for in terms of efficiency and your budget. The mini therm is a mid-low efficient boiler, so for every 1 part of gas you throw at it you lose 20-25% up the chimney. (I know they advertise up to 85% but real world, its just not happening) If you want to step up in efficiency, I would recommend an IBC boiler. They boast 95+ % in efficiency and are locally (Vancouver) manufactured. The Sl-20-115 is about right to replace your 140,000 btu as your getting 95% efficiency. The only problem is you would need to update your flue venting and provide a drain for the condensation (not to mention re-arranging the old boiler piping and control wiring) If you are wanting to stay with a mid-efficient boiler, I would use a weil-mclain cgi series as a direct replacement.

As far as the Bosch instant hot or tankless, these are typically designed for domestic hot water and you end up having issues and voiding warranty if you use it in a boiler application.

If you are using water to heat a system (hot tub, radiant heat etc), you use a boiler. If you are heating domestic hot water, there are a variety of tankless water heaters available. I personally stick to Navien or Rinnai in terms of brand as have had great service records with both.

Please feel free to contact me if needed of you need an installer. Please use the pm feature. Thanks!

[I Think]

No argument that a boiler is probably better for use in home heating, tho there are people using tank type gas water heaters quite successfully. I doubt the Bosch tankless gas heater would pass code but as long as it is properly installed and vented, I see no problem. Here in Mexico they sell for $250 each, so you could easily have 2 one for back up, once installed it takes about 10 minutes to swap one.