Weil Mclain Boiler Rust - ticking time bomb?

ALIGA

Weil Mclain EG 250k BTU boiler, 23 year old boiler in newly purchased home.



Had the chance to take the top cover off, and found rust on the top, and am assuming in front of the jacket as well. I was fearful of removing the front cover, as I did not want to disturb the rust from falling off causing a leak.



Do you think I will be able to get by this season?



Any ideas why both tappings for the header piping would not be used?

Dave in QCA

Remove one more cover

Aliga, it does not look good, but where you really want to look is under the next cover, the silver colored one.  Make sure the power to the boiler is off!



Take of the next cover and you will be looking directly at the top of the cast iron sections, and down through the flue passages between them.  I keep my fingers crossed that you will not find anything worse that what we see in these photos.

Ban

Rust

Looks pretty normal for a 23 year old. You need to remove the flue to get a better look inside. Is it leaking? Attached is an image of what mine that I took last night. I have a 22 year old EG-55 that has a couple of pins broken but no leaks.

nicholas bonham-carter

Ol' Rusty

This would be a good time to start measuring the EDR of all your radiators, and then to start looking at new boilers of the right size.

Certainly, using both tappings would have been better, as would making the header larger instead of smaller than the riser.

I think it will last at least as long as it takes you to narrow your choices of boiler and installer.

You could try reducing the stress on the boiler by keeping the pressure as low as possible.--NBC

Ban

Please Delete

ALIGA

the silver cover

I am assuming it is easy to take off, it looks like has some sort of sealant between the cover and the block.



i will tackle that shortly.

ALIGA

EDR calcs

I hope I calculated the EDRs correctly. 2800 square foot home.

1st floor: 4 rads

2nd floor: 6 rads

Attic: 2 rads



I have totaled all the rads to 335.7

Since the mains are not insulated(one of my tasks to perform), should I multiply with a pickup factor of 1.5, and then x240?



Total is = 335.7 x 1.5 x 240 = 120K



Current steam boiler is EG65 with 250K input, Output of 209K



Is it safe to say if I wanted to stick with a Weil Mclain, I can go with an EG-45?

I am shocked the prior homeowner went from a 150k input to 250k input.



Screen cap of weil mclain specs

Rod

Matching the Boiler to the EDR

Hi- At a quick glance matching the EDR to the IBR ratings it would look like you could get away with a EG-40 as at 325 Sq.ft. of steam as it is very close to 335.7  Keep in mind that the net IBR ratings already have already included the "pickup factor".

- Rod

ALIGA

Finally cracked

took it down, cleaned up, next challenge getting new boiler up two sets of stairs and then down to basement, and finally got a 200k btu replacement(50k btu smaller than original weil mclain)

nicholas bonham-carter

Nice job

Hope you were not too cold while the replacement took place!

Don't don't don't forget the pipe insulation!!!!

In the summer, you may need to enlarge, and raise up the header, if you have any wet steam this winter.--NBC