Any market for a three year old boiler? If so, where?

NRW

Hi steam heat experts - I had a Burnham IN-8 245,000 BTU input boiler installed in my 3 family house in Brooklyn three years ago by a master plumber. Turns out that he didn't bother to do a connected load calculation, and that the boiler he spec'd and installed is way too big, which is causing me no end of headaches (short-cycling, major uneven heat distribution). I'm replacing it now with one of the correct size, but since I'm paying out of pocket for the replacement (and suing the plumber who installed it, who refuses to fix his mistake despite two expert evaluations identifying the too-big boiler as the source of all my heating woes).

I'd love to recover money from the boiler if I can - it works fine and is only 3 years old - it's just the wrong size. But I have no idea if there's a market for this out there - will anyone really want the thing, or am I better off just having it scrapped? If there is a market, where's the best place to advertise?

Many thanks in advance for advice.

nicholas bonham-carter

oversized boiler

it is certainly true that a steam boiler must be sized to the radiation in order to work properly, but even correctly sized boilers can short-cycle if the main venting is inadequate. have a 0-3 psi gauge put on alongside the code-required 0-30 psi gauge. during the initial firing cycle, the air will be allowed to escape from the pipes and boiler. if the venting is not adequate, the gauge will show a back-pressure higher than 2 ounces, which shows you that you are paying for extra fuel to force the air out, instead of allowing to escape with no restriction. hopefully, your new steam man will follow the piping diagram in the mfg's manual as a minimum.

as for the sale of the old boiler, why not try craigslist. how over-sized was it?--nbc

NRW

boiler is between 1.5 and 2x bigger than needed

sadly, both plumbers who evaluated my system said that while venting would help a little, it wouldn't fix the main issue, which is that the boiler is too big. one plumber told me that the boiler produces 633 square feet of steam per minute, while my system can only handle 358; the other told me that the boiler is 1.5x times bigger.

i could try craig's list - just wondered if there was some place targeted towards plumbers/heating professionals. i searched 'boiler' on NYC craig's list yesterday and found exactly one listing, so i'm not sure it's a popular place to sell them.

thanks again!

BRIANJ

two stage gas valve

Don't know for sure if this will solve your problem but, you may want to try a two stage gas valve. This would allow you to work at lower pressures and lessen short cycling. It's cheaper than a new boiler.