Help contemplating new boiler & system in general

wombosi

I bought a house 3 years ago. Made early 1900s. About 2,500 square feet of living space.

Came with a Burnham Jubilee oil fired boiler, believed to be from the 50s or 60s. It's a dinasaur but it works and I know how to service it. I have a relatively new oil tank.

I've been thinking about a new system for awhile now for many reasons. For one, I hate oil - the cost and also for political reasons. Two, the boiler is horribly inefficient.

At least now I have an electric water heater and kill the boiler in the summer.

This summer I'll be insulating my house with icynene from the exterior.

My local natural gas providor (a monopoly on the market) would bring in the gas line for free and I could get a nice wall hung direct vent natural gas boiler.
There's one big catch: a 5 year contract with the gas company that stipulates I consume a certain minimum volume of gas per year, or they come after me for their installation cost of about $4,000. I find this absolutely outrageous and for me it defeats the whole purpose of wanting to upgrade, which is to burn as little fuel as possible.

The other reason for wanting to go gas was for direct venting, free up my chimney and install a wood stove. Obviously if I'm primarily burning wood, I won't meet the minimum gas volume!

So I'm wondering about simply a new oil boiler. Or maybe a combination oil/wood boiler? Or maybe a direct vent propane?
Or maybe, simply leaving what I have.

Any thoughts, guys?

Thanks a lot.

beenthere

That Jubilee is a work horse. If you haven't already. You could get a new oil burner for it, which would reduce your oil consumption more.

Might want to check out a Burnham MPO boiler.