Weil Mclain CGA4 Boiler

Boilerpro_5

new gas boilers will not work properly with most old chimneys. Older chimneys are usually too large in cross section and are often unlined or the old clay liner is cracked with joints opened up. The size boiler your looking is, generally, best vented into an insulated 5 or 6 inch diameter flue, preferably with an old inefficient gas fired water heater that dumps heat into the vent 365 days a year. Proper chimney application and sizing are completely dependent on all sorts of conditions, so this is just a typical example.

Boilerpro

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=393&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

Matt_46

CGA4 Boiler

I just got an estimate on a replacement boiler. I currently have a old (huge octopus boiler). The person recommended a weil mclain CGA 4 SPLN. I asked him about the CGA 4 PIDN. He says not too. Anyone have any knowledge why he is recommending a lower efficiency boiler? Are there problems with the PIDN?
He also stated that I cannot go with the high effieciency boilers 90%+, because they will not work in this application. Can anyone confirm this...or am I being fed a line?

Unknown

I don`t know why

he would have taken standing pilot over intermittent, maybe he had a bad experience with one, Iv`e had none, but that`s his prob. As to why he advised against a mod/con, that`s a "head scratcher" , some more info on your system would help us give a better opinion. BTW- I hope your getting other contractor estimates too.

Dave

brucewo1b

Personally I would prefer to see

a standing pilot in a csat Iron cold start boiler as the heat of the pilot is usually enough to keep condensation at bay in the coff cycles especially over the summer months. If you will be heating your DHW with this boiler then it is not such a problem usually as the once or twice a day firings will do the same thing. As far as ewhy not a 90 percnt boiler bI am with Dave and ask that you tell us about the rest of the system type of convectors etc.

Matt_46

The current system is a old coal boiler that was conerted to natural gas. The current burner says 275k btu. The boiler is original to the house (1922). There are seven old radiators (probably American Radiator Co.)throughout the house. The system is a closed gravity fed.

Unknown

Ok Matt

Those old lads were(and still are), pretty common. Do you need help sizing this? Or,,,,,?, since your looking at atmospheric, what are your chimney details?, size, height, liner installed? We have to know these things to help ya.

Dave

Boilerpro_5

I no longer recommend any boilers of that type....

due to efficiency reasons and the fact that most chimneys are not up to snuff. By the time you upgrade the chimney, add the special piping for making the high temp only cast iron boiler match your low temp system, you can pay for a much more efficient modulating/condensing boiler that will be a perfect match for your type of system.
At minimum I recommend a Power vent type cast iron boiler venting out the sidewall for nearly all hot water heat applications.

Boilerpro


To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Brad Davis Horizon Mechanical,LLC

I HAVE SOLD AND INSTALLED THESE BOILERS FOR YEARS AND NEVER HAD PROBLEMS WITH THEM, I WOULD RECOMMEND A BUDERUS INSTEAD.The PIDN has never given me problems.

Matt_46

what new high efficiency boilers will not work with existing chimney...Someone was telling me today to go with Weil Ultra...but will that work in this application

Steamhead (in transit)

Matt, you also need to check

whether a mod-con or other sidewall-vented boiler could be installed in your house in a way that meets manufacturer's specs and local Codes. For example, since your house is that old, it probably has lots of windows. Some instructions and Codes call for sidewall boiler exhausts to be as much as 4 feet horizontally from a window or other penetration, 7 feet above a publicly-accessible walkway, 1 foot above the highest recorded snow accumulation etc. etc. etc. This is where a good contractor familiar with instructions and Codes comes in.

Boilerpro is dead-on regarding atmospheric gas boilers like that W-M CGa-4. If sidewall venting is out, you can get better efficiency (typically 2-3 AFUE points) by using a wet-base oil-designed boiler with a power gas burner in it, exhausting into a properly-lined chimney. The flame in this type of boiler is mostly surrounded by water-backed cast iron, whereas on an atmospheric gas boiler the flame is completely beneath the water-backed cast iron and you lose a lot of heat out of the bottom (ever wonder why these boilers cannot be installed on combustible floors?).

This would also let you switch from gas to oil without buying a new boiler if your local unregulated gas monopoly keeps jacking rates up to fatten its CEO's golden parachute.

Not all boiler manufacturers will sell their oil-fired boilers with power gas burners. Smith (at least for now) and Solaia are two that do. Of the two, I prefer the Solaia since it is a 3-pass design. The pin-type heat exchanger in the Smith is much harder to clean if it gets dirty (yes, that can happen on a gas boiler if something goes wrong!).

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"