Gorham family finds greener alternative heating system which saves them $1200 a year.

One Maine family didn’t wait until their 25 year old oil boiler died before they decided to replace it with an ÖkoFEN automated pellet boiler.  Scott and Sharon Blakeslee heeded the advice of their maintenance person and prepared to find a replacement for their soon to be defunct oil boiler.  Before jumping into a new heating system, the Blakeslee’s researched their options.  Knowing they wanted to get off oil, their search lead them to several alternatives.

• Natural gas – well a viable option, but not in their neighborhood and still tied to oil so it was quickly crossed off their list.
• Geothermal looked promising but it was expensive and difficult to retrofit.
• Solar intrigued them but wouldn’t adequately heat their home.
• Wood – while another great solution required too much work for a busy family.

The Blakeslee’s knew they needed something that could be a complete replacement to their oil boiler and didn’t require frequent maintenance. Eventually, their search lead them to reVision heat and ÖkoFEN automated pellet boilers.  After doing due diligence regarding the ÖkoFEN heating system and having a site visit with Pat Coon from reVision heat, the  Blakeslee’s learned that a fully automated pellet boiler was the perfect solution. Their new heating system only took 2 days to install and allowed them to keep their hot water tank that previously was connected to the oil boiler. The transition was seamless.

“Basically the old boiler was unhooked from the heating pipes and was taken away (along with the oil tank) the pellet boiler was put in its place attached to the heating pipes and attached to the new pellet hopper and the system was ready to go.” ~Scott Blakeslee

By choosing an automated pellet boiler, the Blakeslee’s not only got their wish of finding a green alternative, being off oil and supporting the local economy, but  they also will see a significant fuel savings by using pellets instead of oil. The current average price of oil in the greater Portland area is $3.36 and they locked in pellets at $2.39 for the next three years.

Their estimated savings are between $1,000 and $1,200 just this year. As the price of oil continues to go up, their savings will continue to increase as will the payback on their system.

When we first checked in with the Blakeslee’s their boiler had only been running for 5 to 6 weeks but they were delighted with the system. Blakeslee frequently checked in on it to make sure it was running okay but soon learned that he didn’t have to do that. Just like his old oil boiler, his new ÖkoFEN ran smoothly. It was quiet and trouble free.

The Blakeslee’s are very happy with their new system. We plan on checking back with them in a year to find out how much money they actually saved and get their updated thoughts on their fully automated pellet boiler. We hope you join us then to get the scoop on how their winter went. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook or Twitter to be notified when more success stories or an update to this story is posted.