Peerless ect or burnham megasteam

Jim G

I am purchasing a new boiler. The installers have been recommending Peerless over Burnham. Which should i get? I have been told Burnham is having problems with thier castings.

Steamhead

Go with the MegaSteam

Burnham did have trouble with some V-7 and V-8 boilers. But the MegaSteam is an entirely new design rather than an evolution of an older one. It is a three-pass boiler, which is more efficient and much easier to service than the vertical-flue, pin-type ECT (or the Burnham V-series). This design also places all the heat-transfer surface below the boiler's waterline, which makes it less vulnerable to heat-related stress and corrosion and partially accounts for its better efficiency. And it's relatively quiet.



We've installed some MegaSteam boilers and are impressed with their design, performance and build quality. Burnham has had some rough times with earlier models, but so far the MegaSteam looks like a home run.

CMadatMe

Megasteam

Burnham has never had a problem with their casting on the MPO/Megasteam 3-pass boiler family. Their problem was well over 10 years ago and that was with the V7 casting. They stood behind every problem and rectified the bad casting issue many years ago.



 As of today, Burnham is far ahead of other American Boiler manufacturers in their direction to meet the new 2012 Boiler standard. Great company, great reps, great support. I sell both peerless and burnham and I can tell you on 1/2 of one hand how many times I have seen a Peerless Rep in my store. Burnham is in my store atleast one a month. Keeping us abreast on the new changes and bend over backwards to help you out.



It's a simple decision. The Megasteam is a more efficienct steam boiler than the ECT hands down. You must decide which contractor you feel is the right guy for the job.

toilburn

v-8

I don't think they totally eliminated there casting problems. I have seen several v-8 failures. The mega-steam looks like a good design, but I am not selling it yet because of their past history of failures

Jim G

another issue

ok, let's put the reliability issue aside, reps are telling me that with the megasteam I have to put an insert in my chimney because of condensation. Is that true? They are really pushing Peerless.

CMadatMe

Chimney

What the rep is saying is that the boiler has a lower stack temp than the ECT. That means the heat produced on your money is staying in the boiler longer and not b-lining out the chimney. This is a common difference in 3-pass design versus the traditional single pass design boilers such as the ECT.

The boiler can be vented in a tile lined chimmney. If it is a brick chimney then the anwser is no it cannot. Venting begins at page 27 of the install manual attached.

Jim G

Another question regarding installation

I have 2 HW loops on the current steam boiler (in a basement):

1-basement tapped of bottom of boiler.

1 zone (2nd floor) off of a HW coil.

For the new system: One installer wants to run the 2 HW zones off a HW coil in the new boiler. The other installer wants to tap both HW zones directly off the boiler. (this leaves the possibility of puttingin a HW coiler later with a HW storage unit, I now have a separate HW oil fired heater)

Which is the better way to go?

Charlie from wmass

The coil will separate your copper

fin tube from the boiler water and allow the use of iron body pumps. the piping off the boiler tappings requires bronze pumps and will expose your fin tube to corrosion.