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Scenario two If the basement is finished and the mechanical equipment is not located close to an appropriate exterior wall, this can become a major renovation to the home. In addition to changing out their existing appliance with a new one, it may involve opening up ceilings and potentially walls to run the venting for the new high efficiency appliance to an appropriate exterior wall. Regarding an appropriate exterior wall, see Scenario one

At the end of the replacement, there is potentially a lot of patching and repair work inside and outside the home that needs to be done to bring the home back to its original appearance. Not to mention the time, energy and inconvenience to clear the finished space so the work can be completed.

The root of the problem

A single high efficiency appliance, boiler or combi boiler provides both heating and hot water and needs only a single vent. As mentioned previously we can utilize the existing venting system as a chase to install the new vent. From the homeowner’s perspective, all of the contractor’s work is confined to the mechanical room. The homeowner doesn’t need to worry about changes to the appearance of their home or the inconvenience and cost associated with repairs required due to the work done.

For years, the hydronic industry has struggled to help homeowners tackle this problem of moving from mid efficient equipment to high efficiency equipment and it has primarily been due to the price gap between the traditional hot water heater and forced air furnace combination and what we could provide with hydronics. Traditionally, the hydronic solution was to offer the homeowner the option of using a hydronic air handler in place of their furnace, an indirect water heater in place of their direct fired water heater and a high efficiency boiler in place of their current system. We could minimize the pain of this transition by repurposing their existing venting system as a chase to install a venting system suitable for the high efficiency boiler, but the cost was still significantly higher to move to this type of system.

The selling feature of this system was that we could help them avoid the inconvenience of having to open up ceilings and walls and otherwise disrupt their lives outside of the mechanical room. We could also offer them the luxury of more hot water by installing an indirect water heater with a larger capacity and longer life span than their current direct fired water heater.

All of this sounds great to the homeowner, until they see the cost. The main reason for this cost is because we needed to offer three pieces of equipment to replace two. The increased cost of the hydronic system was typically more than the cost and inconvenience of repairs to ceilings, drywall and siding. However, the products in our industry have changed and evolved to allow us to be more competitive in today’s market. In recent years, many of the condensing boiler manufacturers have started to release combi-boilers and we have seen an increase in the availability, quality, and features of hydronic air handling units. Pricing and availability have also improved on these components as more and more manufacturers introduce new product offerings to the market.

Now, we can offer the homeowners options that include air handlers with high efficiency ECM motors and controls to allow them to integrate their existing or future air conditioning or heat pump systems. We have venting manufacturers offering flexible venting system designed for retrofits directly into existing masonry chimneys or B-vent systems and condensing combi-boilers offering the luxury of continuous

In recent years there has been an increase in the availability, quality, and features of hydronic air handling units.

These advantages, combined with a price point that is close enough to compete against the mass production of the forced air furnace industry, sounds like the magic bullet, but there is always a but. We need to understand what a combiboiler can and cannot do and set the expectations. Look for more on this in Part II in Mechanical Business March 2023.