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replacement steam boiler

tony_19
tony_19 Member Posts: 30
hi everyone, i would like to ask your opinion on a replacement boiler i presently have a peerless jot-6
and the last section has cracked above the water line i found this out thru your helpful website when it would not produce enough pressure i flooded the boiler and found the leak. i temporary fixed with some epoxy. but i need to replace it i contacted peerless and they told me it is not a warranty item, my oil co. service said it does not pay to just replace a section. i should replace the boiler it,this boiler is only about 15 years old, is there normal lifespan,the oil co. suggests a peerless tw-6,after this experience with peerless, i would like to get another mfr any suggestions. thank you for your help

Comments

  • Dave Meers
    Dave Meers Member Posts: 103
    why did it crack?

    > hi everyone, i would like to ask your opinion on

    > a replacement boiler i presently have a peerless

    > jot-6 and the last section has cracked above the

    > water line i found this out thru your helpful

    > website when it would not produce enough pressure

    > i flooded the boiler and found the leak. i

    > temporary fixed with some epoxy. but i need to

    > replace it i contacted peerless and they told me

    > it is not a warranty item, my oil co. service

    > said it does not pay to just replace a section. i

    > should replace the boiler it,this boiler is only

    > about 15 years old, is there normal lifespan,the

    > oil co. suggests a peerless tw-6,after this

    > experience with peerless, i would like to get

    > another mfr any suggestions. thank you for your

    > help



  • Dave Meers
    Dave Meers Member Posts: 103
    why did it crack?

    Hi Tony,

    Take some time now to try to determine the reason for your boiler failure. Fifteen years is a little short of what you can expect. Is it a crack or a hole that is above the waterline? The likely cause of a hole above the waterline is oxygen corrosion caused by too much fresh water makeup. Do you have any leaks in your system? Do you have any underground piping? How often and how long do you blow down the boiler?

    If it is a crack, could you describe its location, length, etc.?

    Let us know, we'll try to help.

    Best regards, Pat
  • tony_19
    tony_19 Member Posts: 30


    there is a crack on the last section on the top whice i noticed after i fixed the two holes near the top of the same section. the holes were at the cast iron nipples. it
    also seems to have a slight seepage from between two sections were they connect. it is only damp there i guess
    now that i fixed the hole the water will find another exit. thnaks again
  • tony_19
    tony_19 Member Posts: 30


    sorry i dint answer all your questions the boiler is blown down about once a week during the season and there is no
    underground piping.
  • Al Gregory
    Al Gregory Member Posts: 260


    I would stay with Peerless. Its a good boiler. Alot of boilers use o-rings between the sections and on steam boilers the top gaskett tends to dry up and crack. My company is switching back to Peerless after selling Burnham for the past 10 years.
    One other recomendation, I would install an L4006A aquastat to the boiler and set it at 90 degrees. Let the boiler run in the summer time. This just keeps the boiler dry and you wont use 20 gallons of oil all summer but it will add many many years to the boiler, piping and chimney. Some people will say I'm nuts but I try to do that on all my boilers that dont run a tankless coil. Makes a huge difference
  • I'm a fan

    of peerless boilers. I'v installed quiet a few of them, both residential and commerical. Very few problems, compared to other manufactures. Only drawback is they're a bear to handle. Maybe, because they're the heavest cast iron boiler made. I'm also told, Peerless makes their own castings, and for other manufacturers. Personally, I'd look into another Peerless, And it could be less expensive. But bottom line is the installation! You may have to pay more for a company that knows steam systems.
  • steveray
    steveray Member Posts: 10
    edited November 2013
    cracked boilers

    as far as I know peerless stopped making the jot boiler before 1995 they replaced it with the ect . I have always been a fan of peerless (maybe because that's what I started installing) their color of steam classes were a great asset to me when I first started. over the years I have seen very little difference in the designs of the major cast iron brands. they all have single pass wet base designs that with they're jackets removed it would be hard to tell one from another. Weil has a great tech support team and that's what I install now. burnham had some problems years ago with cracks on the crown in the mid-sections. I believe they have worked them out. I recently had two different jobs that cracked at the top of the boiler near the flue collector , 1 commercial Bryant aprox 20-25 yrs old and a residential burnham. Burnham's replacement block had a ss plate attached to the rear section in the last passage extending down 6-8'' from the flue collector into the flue passage way . this makes think they may be having a different problem now since that's exactly where the crack was on the old block. the Bryant was cracked castrophically in almost every section right in the middle of the top of the section. this one was piped wrong and needed a boiler feed tank and still had the kidney shaped dunham trap tied into it and they bull headed the main header and they had it cranked up to 6psi on the cheap mh pressuretrol...............however it ran that way for 20 years. still I don't know how it crack it i'm assuming it was stress but I'd like to figure it out before we replace it. ther was still water at the rite water line when my service guy got there . he found the cracks when he pulled the flue collector to clean it. If anybody has any ideas about the cause pls let me know
  • Ron Jr._3
    Ron Jr._3 Member Posts: 603
    edited November 2013
    Im a fan of Peerless too

    But if you want to go with a different brand the Burnham Megasteam is a great choice . Very beefy sections that will last decades. Real efficient and pretty quiet too. Sorry about it being sideways . Sent it from my phone .
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