Repair or Replace

Zman500

I have a Burnham V-14 with a Sunray FC134 burner with a few problems. My service company was out to fix a delayed ignition, and said my aquastat (Honeywell R8182H) has two bad controls and needs replacement. It isn't running the circulator and the high limit (I believe) is not working. He also said one of my two zone valves is sometimes sticking. Also, when the boiler gets cold (in the off season or during a power outage which happened recently), it drips water from the coil plate gasket. This leak has occurred for about 2 years now. Service guy implied I should consider a new boiler and burner. He fixed the delayed ignition and they are awaiting my decision on what to do next. They sent someone out to price a new system (at my request). Not sure what to do now. I thought of fixing the aquastat and waiting until the off season to fix the leak, but then I don't know if the gasket can be fixed due to much rust. The bolts seem tight but I don't know if they will break if attempted to be removed. Here is a picture of it. It drips at the bottom, but only when cold. Do you think I should attempt to get it fixed, or just trash the system and replace?

icesailor

Replace

Replace it.

The red rubber gasket is as hard as the tar road. Bolts are rusted in and many will need to be drilled out. The cast iron surface will be all deteriorated and will not be flat. The reason the boiler doesn't "seem" to leak is because the hot boiler causes evaporation. When the boiler is cold, it leaks. I see it all the time on cold start boilers. There is one brand of boilers that use steel push nipples and the expansion and contraction of the boiler allow debris to fall between the sections and the heating and cooling expansion allows them to not contract and it makes the nipples leak between the sections. You can see the moisture coming out between the sections after a while.

Get a new boiler that is properly sized for the house and a new modern burner. It will pay for itself.