The good news is that new gas-fueled, moderate-temperature, high efficiency, compact boilers are now available. They are safe, economical, and environmentally more responsible. They also supply virtually unlimited hot water for domestic use all year, in addition to providing comfortable heat for your home.

The modern boiler completely seals fuel and flame in a strong, steel combustion chamber, absolutely isolated from the interior of your house. The combustion chamber draws air from outside the house, and vents exhaust gases directly to the outside. There is no open flame. Ignition is no longer by pilot light or spark. The new design uses a solid ceramic igniter instead. A "smart" control monitors each component of the boiler for correct operation. If the pump or blower, gas or air, are not as they should be, the control will turn the boiler off at once.

The exhaust of old-style boilers was very hot, carrying many BTU’s (and dollars!) up the chimney. The chimney itself had to be kept warm to "draw" well. This combination translated into poor utilization of energy and dollars. New-design boilers waste less energy in their exhausts. Usually they do not connect to a chimney, using instead a short side-wall vent of plastic or metal, or a liquid drain for condensing units. A modern boiler that uses a side-wall vent will convert 85 to 87 percent of your fuel into usable heat. A condensing boiler can have a combustion efficiency of about 95 percent. If the boiler draws its combustion air from inside the heated envelope of your house, it is removing air that you have paid to heat. Cold air replaces the air removed, which you must pay to heat again! The new-design boiler draws its combustion air from outside the house, so no warm air is lost.

A modern high-quality boiler is made with good materials and workmanship. When installed correctly, you can expect the boiler to give you decades of reliable service. Correct installation must include the system that carries heat from the boiler into your house. It obviously must not let water leak out. Not as obvious, it also must remove oxygen from the circulating water, and prevent oxygen from leaking in. Achieving this, you have a "closed system" that is corrosion free and does not require maintenance.

Besides providing abundant radiant heat, the modern boiler design supplies virtually unlimited, on demand, domestic hot water (up to 130 gallons per hour). A copper coil runs through the boiler’s storage tank. Cold water runs through the copper coil, absorbing heat from the sur-

rounding storage water of the heating system, then goes through the pipes, and to the faucet. When you turn on the hot water spigot, the water is heated and delivered, as needed. Running out of hot water just when you are ready for a nice, hot bath is a thing of the past.

The new boiler design is so quiet that homeowners who live with these hydronic systems say they set the individually zoned (watch for an upcoming article on zoning) thermostats for each room and then forget them. They can concentrate on what they want to hear instead of listening to the heating system all winter long.

The old-style boilers required a large space in the basement or in an isolated mechanical room because they were so bulky or noisy. That is no longer the case. The new boilers are significantly more compact—requiring as little space as a closet. Because they are so quiet, a boiler that provides both heating and hot water can be installed in the living area of your house.

The boilers burn natural gas or propane. This, in combination with its design efficiency, provides an economical heating system that is also gentler on the environment. It consumes less fuel, thereby using less of our finite resources, and burns much cleaner, contributing less to air pollution.