When to replace boiler?

Jo Ann

Sorry, Nick, I'm in Connecticut. Sounds like you are really in to steam. Thanks for the advice.

Jo Ann

When to replace boiler?

I have an American Standard boiler, model A-3, 1B J1 Series, No. A34. Gross MBh 136, installed radiation 425, water MBh 118.3, with a Becket model AFG burner on it that a heating contractor (think he's a good guy) told me is not newer than 1965. He also told me that the boiler is piped incorrectly, header t's, no loop, and I should not have pipes embedded in the concrete floor in case of leaks. It is a one pipe system that uses about between 800 and 1000 gallons of oil to heat 1100 feet of living space, depending on the weather. I live in Connecticut.

I have had it serviced annually by the oil company but I am not sure they know enough about steam. For example, I had to remove the asbestos insulation years ago because it was friable and they never told me I should replace it with something else. They have never said a word about the vents on the main. I've been here for 25 years and they have never been serviced or changed them. I have never heard them running water when they service it so I think that means it's not been flushed.

I am trying to save as much money on oil as I can. Does it make sense to put a new boiler in and correct the piping/venting/insulation issues, just correct the piping and etc., or bite the bullet and put in hot water?

I have duopane windows but not sure about the insulation. There is blown in cellulose in the attic but not sure about the walls.

Thanks much.

Steamhead (in transit)

First thing I'd do

is take care of the easy stuff- main vents, pipe insulation and the like. Your mileage may vary but we've had clients who have saved over 30% on their fuel consumption this way.

I wouldn't trust the oil company to maintain the steam side of that boiler. With few exceptions, their techs likely just focus on the burner. If they only spend 30-45 minutes in the basement each year, they're not even doing that.

The A-3 series boiler isn't bad with a decent chamber and a flame-retention burner, but it isn't the most efficient choice. A Smith 8 series boiler is more efficient and can burn oil or gas to boot.

Whoever suggested ripping everything out and putting in hot water is likely salivating at the prospect of a very expensive tear-out and repiping. But you won't gain much efficiency that way, if any. Fixing the steam will give you the most bang for your buck.

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nicholas bonham-carter

what to do

hear hear steamhead!
what about testing those returns and the boiler for leaks before the heating season by overfilling up to the pressure relief valve and seeing if--
water stays inside the boiler;
water comes out inside the boiler;water disappears who knows where [buried returns?]
by all means get a truly qualified and experienced steam expert in your area [please let it be baltimore] to check the burner at the start of the heating season also paying particular attention to:
VENTING [can you ever have too much main venting capacity?]
OPERATING PRESSURE [ounces needed not pounds!]
WATER CLEANLINESS [learn how to skim the boiler yourself from the expert.]
MAIN STEAM PIPE INSULATION
THERMOSTAT PLACEMENT AND ANTICIPATION [maybe a honeywell visionpro rated for steam would be better]
you will be amazed how much better these systems run when returned to their original operating conditions as the dead men intended .good luck--and keep the steam--nbc

Jo Ann

The contracter who came did not suggest ripping out the steam to put in hot water. He did say he would not address the venting, insulation, and funky piping unless the boiler was replaced, too. He is a steam pro, I guess I am trying to find out if it is really necessary to replace the boiler. Or, if, as you say, address the venting, insulation, etc. and see where that takes us.

nicholas bonham-carter

into steam

yes i am, but as building owner--large house apt. conversion 60 rads 1,000,000 btu 1-pipesystem.
as we could not change to hot water, we did end up replacing the boiler ,and then addressed the various other piping problems which we thought were "just a part of steam heat"
now from the wall and my own experiences i know that steam can be quiet,confortable,and fairly quick to respond to temperature drops.gas consumption is better now than before [10%].
i would certainly try to get your present system working as well as possible first unless you know the boiler leaks or has some other big problem.the steam piping may not be such a difficult thing to correct.did you post some pictures [or a walk around video] which some of the master steam mechanics on this site can analyse for obvious errors of installation.
my steam man here[neb.] taught me to do some of my own corrective return piping as we were getting the bugs out of the system.it is possible that steam may someday catch up with mod-con boilers in raw efficiency as engineers devise ways of extracting the last of the heat from the flue--perhaps to dry your clothes or make hot water!!then we steam people may have the last laugh instead of putting up with occasional snide remarks.--nbc

Ted R

Old boiler

I have nearly the identical setup and thought my boiler was still doing well. Then I opened it up to see the water side to be heavily rust encrusted - I had not the slight idea of the heavy interior corrosion.

After I spend sopme major $$ replacing it was a gas boiler, I hope to see smaller bills, and fewer BTU's used.

Leo_13

That old boiler

That old boiler is bullet proof but it is an oil guzzler. The design is prior to the oil problems of the 70's. Today's oil boilers are much more efficient.

Leo

Steamhead (in transit)

Not sure where Nick is

but I'm the one in Baltimore. I think he was giving me a shameless plug, which I appreciate ;-)

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