The set up is working great and I love it. It's cool how the Logamatic 2107 regulates everything (out side temp. sensor is installed). At the beginning of the season, when just taking the chill out of the house, the boiler wouldn't run that hot. Just enough to warm the radiators. (I would say 100-130 degrees.) Because the outside air temp was not that low. Now that the outside air temp. is much cooler (even below 32F at times), the boiler runs hotter. (around 150-200 degrees.) But the temps. vary widely and these temps. are not absolute. When the thermostat calls for heat, the boiler doesn't turn on along with the circulator. If the water in the boiler is hot enough, only the circulator will come on until the boiler cools down enough to warrant the oil burner to cycle on. So the boiler doesn't needlessly make more hot water than is needed. Sometimes the oil burner wont even have to turn on because there's enough hot water for the cycle of the circulator. The circulator for the heating zone for the house does cycle on and off more often to keep a more constant even air temp. in the house (68 degrees). With the new digital thermostat I'm experimenting with CPH (Cycles Per Hour). You can set the thermostat to make more short on/off cycles or longer on/off cycles by adjusting the CPH. This adjusts how often the circulator cycles on/off each hour. I started out with 5 CPH and now I'm trying out 4 CPH. The boiler will run hotter when making hot water of course (indirect fired maintaining 140 degrees with mixing valve set at 125 degrees). Domestic hot water always takes priority (or you can change that default setting). Even if the house is calling for heat and you need hot water for showers or laundry or dishwashing etc. The circulator for the house will stop and the circulator for the hot water will run until the hot water storage tank temp. is satisfied. Then the circulator for the house will continue until satisfied. I have the Logamatic on "Late" mode. Meaning the domestic hot water production stops at 11:30 PM every night. It resumes the next morning at 6:30 AM. The water storage tank (Buderus ST-150) loses very little heat standing by and there is plenty of hot water stored. So no real need to keep water at peek 140 degrees if it's not being used over night. The system goes into "Night" mode at 11:30 PM also. This turns down the "heating curve" for heating the house (lower operating temp.) The system goes into "Day" mode at 6:30 AM, where domestic hot water is priority and made first if needed and regular heating temps. are back up to normal for home heating. All these setting and times can be changed on the Logamatic to fit your homes lifestyle. It's pretty cool learning how this system works.

Nice price on electricity. I pay at least twice that. Here are some numbers for you, based on your figures: A kilowatt of electricity is about 3,413 BTUs, and is $0.0636, which works out to be 53,660 BTUs per dollar. Electricity is 100% efficient, meaning that there are no combustion losses that go up the chimney at your house. Propane has about 92,000 BTUs per gallon, and is $2.50 gallon, which works out to be about 36,800 BTUs per dollar. Your existing water heater is prolly on the order of 60% efficient, which means that 40% of the BTUs out of a gallon of propane end up going up the chimney, and not in your house. As such, you are getting about 22,000 BTUs per dollar out of it. If you went with a new water heater, such as the Polaris which is 95% efficient, you would be getting about 34,900 BTUs per dollar after combustion losses. Based on your posted information, electricity would be about 65% the cost of propane for heating with a 95% efficiency water heater, and 41% of the cost of propane using your existing water heater. An electric water heater won't work because they donÂt produce enough BTUs to keep up with the demand on the house. But an electric boiler might, depending on the model and how manu BTUs your house requires to keep it warm on the coldest day of the year. An electric boiler will require a lot of electricity, though, prolly on the order of 100 amps. A 200 amp electric service to your house would be the minimum needed to run the electric boiler. You still need to address the ducting losses through your attic. If yours are anything like mine were, that is half the problem right there.

deedee, The size, type, and complexity of the equipment required will be dependent on... 1. What is in the water that needs to be treated. 2. Number of people in your home. 3. SFR and plumbing requirements. Without knowing all three variables there is no way to even ball park what you'll need. Could be as little as $500 or a few thousand. How about this... Get a water test from an independent lab. An independent lab has no agenda and won't be trying to sell you water treatment equipment. Go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/labs/index.html to locate a certified lab near you. This is a MUST DO because without it everything is a guess. A quickie water test from Sears or a water softener company won't be as accurate (and possibly not as competent) as from a certified independent lab. Hit the Yellow Pages and call at least three local water treatment pros. Make sure you call at least one of the big dogs like Kinetico or Culligan for comparison and at least a couple independent pros. DON'T TELL THEM YOU HAD YOUR WATER TESTED. Give each an opportunity to offer suggestions and provide you with a quote to meet your water treatment needs. IGNORE ANY THAT DON'T TEST YOUR WATER THEMSELVES as they can't speak intelligently to water treatment without knowing what needs to be treated. Ask lots of questions. Softening the entire house or just the water heater (bad idea)? Warranty, parts & labor or just parts, how long and on exactly what? Install, permits required, licensed plumber? Routine maintenance and costs? Do they stock parts? Response time for emergency (water leak) calls? If they don't explain things to your satisfaction that is a good indicator of how you'll be treated after the sale. After they've gone use your water test to compare with theirs. Are all your treatment needs being addressed? Ask your neighbors if they have any water treatment experience. They might tell you who's good or who to avoid. Come back here and post the specific recommendations and hardware components with the costs and we'll give you our opinions.

I am not surprised at the problems. The Combi boilers need careful design to match them to load properly and still get enough hot water if it can be done at all. You are going to need a knowledgeable hydronic heat person to do this right if you want to get the rated efficiency from your equipment. I like the design of HTP Versa Hydro or Versa Flame boilers. See it they will fit and check out the noise level.I don't know how much they cost compared to your quotes. I like the design and they are high efficiency. If not, look at a Westinghouse (WGR060NG076 or related depending on size) and install a flat plate heat exchanger to split DHW from hydronic heat. They can be had for low bucks. The Westinghouse WH are rebadged HTP water heaters with the same design main HX as the Versas. Several people in the fora below cite them as economical alternatives that have high efficiency. The don't need as much care as a low-mass boiler to match them to your loads due to the built-in buffer. Lastly, there are great hydronic heat heat resources at terrylove.com and heating help.com (the wall).