Boiler Installation near you

A condensing boiler earns its efficiency only when the water returning to it is cool enough to condense the vapour in its exhaust. Natural Resources Canada puts the target at return water preferably no warmer than 45 to 50°C, and warns that many older hydronic systems were designed around much hotter water. If the return stays too warm, a condensing boiler can end up performing much like a non-condensing one.

In-floor heating runs with cool return water by nature, so it pairs easily with a condensing boiler. Radiator and baseboard systems are the harder case. An outdoor reset control lowers the water temperature as the weather warms, and because the system seldom needs its full output, it can run cool for much of the season; NRCan adds that radiators with enough surface can work well at lower temperatures. Before paying for condensing capability, ask the installer to check room by room whether your radiators can deliver the heat needed with cooler water.

Natural Resources Canada advises asking the contractor for a heat-loss calculation based on CSA standard F280, which accounts for the house's size, insulation and airtightness, and it cautions that sizing from floor area alone, or matching the old unit, is not adequate in most cases. The old boiler is a poor guide anyway: NRCan's oil heating guide says most heating systems in older homes are greatly oversized, and more so once insulation and weatherstripping have been added. An oversized boiler runs in short cycles and may never reach its most efficient steady operation.

The vent often shapes the whole job. A condensing boiler's exhaust is cool enough for approved plastic pipe, usually run out a side wall or through the roof with a sealed air intake beside it, so no chimney is needed. The terminal has to meet the clearances in the fuel code and the maker's instructions, away from windows, doors and air intakes, and clear of the spots where snow drifts or ice falls from the roof.

Keeping an existing chimney brings its own checks. Natural Resources Canada recommends having a technician inspect the chimney when a more efficient boiler replaces an old one: an outside masonry chimney is often too large for the cooler exhaust, which can condense inside and break down the brick, and a stainless steel liner can prevent that. If a gas water heater shared the chimney with the old boiler and the new one vents out the side wall, the water heater's venting has to be re-evaluated too.

The acidic water a condensing boiler produces runs to a floor drain or a condensate pump, commonly through a neutralizer cartridge, on a route that can't freeze. A new fuel-fired boiler is also the time to confirm your carbon monoxide alarms work: NRCan's gas heating guide recommends a certified detector close to fuel-fired appliances, and Health Canada advises alarms in every home that has them.

A gas or oil boiler is regulated from the fuel connection to the vent terminal. In Ontario, the TSSA registers the fuels contractors allowed to install fuel-burning appliances and certifies the gas and oil burner technicians who do the work, so ask for the company's registration number. In Quebec, the CMMTQ states that all work on a gas installation or gas appliance must be entrusted to a specialized contractor who is a CMMTQ member, and heating contractors hold a licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec.

In British Columbia, Technical Safety BC requires a permit to install or replace a gas boiler; a licensed contractor you hire applies for it, and at least one inspection must be requested within 180 days of issue. Other provinces and many municipalities have their own permit and inspection rules, sometimes for the plumbing or electrical connections as well. Have the contractor confirm in writing which permits they will obtain.

Taking out an oil boiler raises the question of the tank. In Ontario, the TSSA says regulations require an unused underground storage tank to be removed, that only a TSSA-registered petroleum contractor may remove a buried fuel oil tank, and that leaving one in the ground needs a variance backed by an environmental assessment report. For approved aboveground tanks, TSSA says there is no age at which one must be replaced as long as it isn't leaking. Other provinces set their own fuel oil rules, and insurers often ask about a tank's age and condition, so check both before deciding its fate.