I'm considering buying a big renovated antique house in MA that has 14 rooms, 4,000 sq.ft
Living area WITH ONE ZONE HEATING. All the windows have been upgraded and half of the rooms had insulation blown into the walls. The house has a burnham boiler, using natural gas with old fashioned steam radiators. My question is: Is It possible to convert a boiler from One zone into 2 Zones? Is it better to keep existing unit to heat the FIRST floor of the house, and install a second unit to heat the SECOND floor? Please help guide me to the best solution.

Thanks,
SteveGinMA

The efficiency of your boiler will determine weather to even keep it or not.

With the high price of utilities it may be better to replace the old unit and add a new control(S) to make a second zone.

One boiler of the correct size (have a manual J done because the calculations for the size of the original boiler have changed since you have updated various aspects of the home).

Your next step is to have at least 2 or 3 quality HVAC contractors do a ON SITE inspection of your system and have them tell you what can be done and the cost.

All boiler piping can be different along with access areas to run new pipe if necessary and that is the reason for the ON SITE inspection.

Gas boilers are now available in the 92 to 95% efficiency so it would be a very smart move to replace to old one.

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Originally Posted by SteveGinMA

I'm considering buying a big renovated antique house in MA that has 14 rooms, 4,000 sq.ft
living area WITH ONE ZONE HEATING. All the windows have been upgraded and half of the rooms had insulation blown into the walls. The house has a burnham boiler, using natural gas with old fashioned steam radiators. My question is: Is It possible to convert a boiler from One zone into 2 Zones? Is it better to keep existing unit to heat the FIRST floor of the house, and install a second unit to heat the SECOND floor? Please help guide me to the best solution.

Thanks,
SteveGinMA

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You sent a PM. I do not answer PM.

You asked

If I buy a new, more efficient boiler, is there a way to use "some" of the existing pipes without ripping everything out and starting from scratch?

That is possible but you will have to rely on your contractors for that discission since that can only be discovered by a ON SITE inspection of your old system. My crystal ball is limited to just a few feet of distance now days. LOL

What ever you decide let fuel savings be your guide. 4000 SQ. FT. is going to generate a substantial fuel bill with your old system that is why I recommend a new much more efficient boiler to start with. The amount of $$$$ you shell out for utilities is going to just get worse as time goes by. Oil, natural gas,propane,electric will go sky high in the years to come.