advice replacing oil furnace in Pa. please!

[mayhem69]

Hi, i have a small cape cod with 3 zones.  I had the service guy over a couple weeks ago and he said my oil burner is 25yrs. old and i should consider replacing soon.  It is a New Yorker model FR-98 / 122-W---85,200/106,100 BTU---.85/1.10 .   I only use this unit when it is real cold here in Pa., and for hot water use all the time.  I have 3 mini splits that work great in my home also.  

I dont want to get ripped off, very hard to find honest guys that do good work around these parts in SE Pa., zip code 19525.  Seems i have some bad luck finding honest techs around these parts.  I want some advice on high efficient unit , and installation cost.
Thank you for your time, Edward

[Bill Kibbel]

That's a bit early to declare a New Yorker boiler to be crossing the threshold to eternal rest.  I don't see any from the 1970s anymore, but plenty from the next decade still working fine.  Your tech might be doubling as a commissioned salesman - very common in these parts. 

They're a very simple, basic boiler that's very easy to service. Although New Yorker was bought by Dunkirk, parts are readily available.  The most common problem is the domestic hot water coil gaskets always crack, leak and need frequent replacement.  Then, the techs don't properly tighten the bolts.

If you want to replace an oil-fired boiler with another oil system, there will be no significant increase in efficiency.  The only advantage would be getting the right size boiler for the home.  Almost all of them are oversized.  The installer upsizes it to avoid possible call backs for cooler showers when the system is working hard during really cold weather.

[Rob Amaral]

That's a cast iron sectional boiler and they can 'go quite a while.. I agree (as usual) with Mr Kibbel.  Service guys seem to be wired to the 'replace at 25 ' mantra... it just happened to me here in my own shack with a local (good) guy...

[Bill Kibbel]

2 hours ago, Rob Amaral said:

That's a cast iron sectional boiler

No. It's a steel fire-tube boiler.