I have an oil boiler in my house (boiler and burner about 27 years old) and, as part of a renovation project, I may upgrade to something more efficient. I thought I would have to stay with oil because I have no natural gas available on my street.
I was surprised when a recommended heating guy suggested replacing my oil system with one based on liquid propane. When I do the numbers, the price per gallon for oil and LP are about the same in my area (Massachusetts) but LP has fewer BTUs so the price per BTU is cheaper with oil.
The guy said that the gas boiler (Viessmann) can get up to 96% efficiency where the best oil boilers can only get up to about 86%. While those numbers are true based on what I've read, my simple calculations show that that difference is not enough to make up for the higher cost of LP.
He claims that those numbers don't tell the whole story because the entire LP system would be more efficient: modulating, condensing, etc. But I thought modern oil boilers have those features too? He was saying that those simple numbers don't tell the whole story.
I'm willing to believe LP can be better but I haven't seen good arguments. Is this guy simply wrong or is he right but not able to express his information well?