CASE STUDY
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For the Media: CASE STUDY – SHIRLEY HOMEArchitect-Turned-Homeowner
Replacing an 80-year-old boiler with a high-efficiency Munchkin condensing unit cuts fuel bills almost in half, while creating less wear on the home. And the family never runs out of hot water.
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But none of that dissuaded Shirley from purchasing the home five years ago. He knew he could overcome his boiler problems as well as the structure’s other challenges, turning it into a dream home that would make his portfolio proud. Shirley is president of Frank Shirley Architects in Cambridge, Mass., a four-person firm specializing in high-end, single-family homes. The firm may be small, but its work has not gone unnoticed.
Old-Home Expert: Frank Shirley Architects received the 2008 Best of Boston® Home Award for historic renovations, and Shirley himself won the 2007 Traditional Building Design Challenge, sponsored by Restore Media, LLC, publisher of Clem Labine's Traditional Building and Clem Labine's Period Homes. The competition asked architects to design and hand-draw a new “old” house for a specific lot in Cape Cod’s Old King's Highway Historic District. Shirley’s winning design beat out seven other architect-finalists from around the country and is being sold by Restore Media to consumers through its magazines.
In addition, in October 2007, Taunton Press published Shirley’s first book, New Rooms for Old Houses: Beautiful Additions for the Traditional Home, which provides advice to homeowners on how to make the classic yet still-popular styles from yesteryear – Capes, Bungalows, Victorians and Federals – accommodate Americans’ changing needs. “Often we need more space,” says Shirley. “The likely solution? Add on. The challenge? How to do it right.” New Rooms for Old Houses offers an in-depth look at making the most of a traditionally inspired addition.
Very Large, Very Old: When Shirley and his wife and young children moved into their new-old Victorian home in 2003, they set about bringing its livability into the 21st century. The first order of business: tackling the outdated boiler. “It was very large and very old,” says Shirley of the Burnham boiler that was approximately three feet wide and five feet long and inconveniently sat smack in the middle of the family’s unfinished basement. “It was the old-fashioned kind with boiler plates that they literally ganged – five plates together – to warm the home,” he says.
When the boiler was built, its installers could not have anticipated today’s soaring energy costs. After moving in, the Shirley family lived through one full heating season with the antiquated boiler, which generated heating bills in excess of $700 per month. “With today’s energy prices, the costs would be much more,” says Shirley. “But even five years ago, they were high enough to set us on the road to replacement.”
The asbestos presented additional problems. “We purchased the house fully aware of the asbestos,” says Shirley, noting that this added complication created a special urgency to replacing the boiler. “Being so old, the boiler had been dinged and banged so many times, there were a lot of breaches in that asbestos skin, making the particles go airborne. Having two little kids, we were not comfortable having that in our house.”
Comparison Shopping: Even so, being an architect, Shirley was not reluctant to shop around for the best solution. His first thought was to look at conventional atmospheric boilers, but he also considered the Munchkin 199M gas-fired boiler, made by Heat Transfer Products. The Munchkin is a high-efficiency condensing boiler with a combustion efficiency of 95.1% – well above the 80% AFUE ratings of most conventional gas-fired boilers and water heaters. A condensing boiler achieves high efficiency by capturing more heat from the flue gases generated by the combustion process. In addition, the Munchkin employs a modulating burner that is – as the name implies – “load-matching.” That means the amount of gas burned is always proportionate to the amount of heat needed.
While the Munchkin 199M would cost $4,000 to $4,500 more than a conventional boiler, Shirley decided he liked the higher efficiency and the energy savings it would bring. In fact, he figures to recoup the extra investment over time.
Shirley also liked the fact that the Munchkin would create less wear and tear on his home. “Eliminating the combustion gas going up the flue – as condensing technology does to boost efficiency – is important. Those gases are tough on bricks and mortar, and I wanted to preserve the integrity of the chimney in my 116-year-old house.”
Out with the Old: The first step in the replacement process was to deal with the asbestos. “They came in with their spacesuits and removed everything,” says Shirley of the technical specialists he hired to do the job, “so I ended up with a squeaky clean, 1920s boiler.”
Next, he redid the basement plumbing. Under the previous system, the entire three-story home – including a finished attic – was set up as a single heating zone. Shirley wanted to make the first and second floors into separate zones, but his budget at that time wouldn’t allow it. “We plumbed the basement to create the opportunity for additional zones at a later date.”
Additional plumbing was also needed because Shirley – again, with an eye on future expansion and renovation – decided to relocate the boiler from the middle of the basement. Measuring only 26 inches H x 17.5 inches W x 12.75 inches D, the compact Munchkin “is so much smaller than the old unit and therefore easier to locate,” says Shirley. “Instead of venting it up three floors and through the roof, the installer tapped through the side wall of a small, unused room in the front of the basement, where it is nearly invisible.”
The actual dismantling of the old unit was relatively easy thanks to a basement with nine-foot ceilings and double-doors that create a five-foot opening at the back. With the new plumbing in place, the Munchkin went in without a glitch and fired up for the first time in October 2004 alongside a Heat Transfer SuperStor Ultra SSU-60 – a 60-gallon storage tank that supplies the home’s domestic hot water needs.
“We’ve never run out of hot water. We can have the dishwasher and washing machine on and still take a shower,” says Shirley, who is also happy to have so much unused basement space with future potential for a makeover. “Right now, it holds a ping pong table and the kids’ bikes. Someday, it will be a woodshop for me and a game room for my kids as they get older.”
Lower Energy Costs: Best of all, during the first winter with the new system, the Shirley family did not have a heating bill over $400. “It was an average winter in terms of temperature, and our heating bills were considerably lower,” says Shirley.
Prior to replacing his own boiler, Shirley had heard of the Munchkin and had recommended it on at least one other project. “I also knew that it is growing in popularity, as people become more energy-conscious, but I learned a lot more as a homeowner guiding the installation of one of my own,” he says. “Now, I commonly recommend Munchkins on projects wherever they are appropriate, and I almost never recommend an atmospheric boiler when a Munchkin can be installed.”
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HEAT TRANSFER: Founded in 1974, Heat Transfer is a designer and manufacturer of advanced heating and hot water systems. Product categories include high efficiency boilers and advanced boiler control systems, high efficiency gas-fired water heaters, oil-fired and electric water heaters, indirect water heaters, and marine and pool heaters.
For more information about these products, visit Heat Transfer at www.htproducts.com. Or call toll-free: 800-323-9651 (508-763-8071 if calling from Massachusetts).
For editorial assistance, contact John O’Reilly c/o LNC Communications:
815-469-9100 or John@LNCmail.com.
[CONTRIBUTOR]
Frank Shirley
Frank Shirley Architects
75 Henry Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-547-3355
Atlantic Heating & Air Conditioning
Brookline, MA