When we bought the house we knew it would need a new boiler (the current one is 47 years old).. however we were hoping to try to get by with the one that was here for at least one season... there was so much back and forth with the negotiations about the boiler, but the house also had knob and tube wiring throughout so we decided to have the old owner replace all the knob and tube instead of the boiler... they threw the old 'home warranty' thing at us.. which is fine but of course only covers a very small amount towards the boiler. we figured we could deal with the boiler at some time... well that time has come.
We also need a hot water heater...the current one is from 1981. Of course we want to try to get the best and 'greenest' we can afford for both the boiler and HWH.
In meeting with HVAC contractors to gather bids, we came across one that told us about the NJ Clean Energy Incentives Program which offers financial incentives on energy efficient improvements. So if your estimated heating savings would be 25% or more NJ will put 50% toward the costs of the HVAC upgrades and then allow you to finance the balance interest free. This allows us to go with a new direct vent 93% efficient boiler and direct vent HWH and we don't need to lay out tons of money right now. And we'll save more on our gas bills.. which were pretty steep this winter. The major downside of all of this is dealing with NJ state employees... this is taking so long to process and there was so much back and forth with paperwork... and we still don't have the boiler yet. Fortunately the old one is hanging in there with a few minor quirks.. like one day just deciding to not shut off.. the house was up to 80 degrees.. and other times just shutting off completely.
We should have the new boiler just in time for summer!
