PEERLESS boiler average life Question

Huan

What is the 'normal /average' life of a PEERLESS, model  JO4 oil-fired steam boiler, tankless water (hot water coil) ?  Mine is 30 years old and running good.

I'm trying to figure out whether to replace now or later and your guesstimates would greatly help me...thanks!

Huan 

JStar

Steam

Expect 15 years of useful life. Be happy with any more than that. 30 years is a good run for a boiler. I would at least start planning to replace it.

Smith19

J04 draft

I believe the older j04's had an awful draft, as the openings below the sections where less than an inch wide. They can last long, but they may be replaced if the draft is too slow. These openings are also difficult to clean.

Hap_Hazzard

My Peerless is about 30 years old

Mine's a G-561, gas-fired. As near as I can tell it was made in 1983 or before. Still works fine and looks good on the outside, but when I think about some of the chunks I've pulled out of the mud leg over the years, I mean, they had to come from somewhere.

saducci

peerless owner

I have an old peerless boiler too. it works fine but now i'm worried are they likely to go all of a sudden or will I have some warning? what are some of the signs of a failing peerless ?   

nicholas bonham-carter

Signs of doom

One way to monitor the health of your old boiler would be checking it's water consumption. Use a clothes pin on the rod of the sight-glass, and turn off any auto feed. Watch it daily for any signs of a dropping waterline, when has not fired for an hour or so.

The annual maintenance should include checking the combustion chamber for any stalactites of calcium-rust coming from pinhole leaks.--NBC

Hap_Hazzard

Water line

I painted a black line around my gauge glass at the normal water level. It's easy to do, and it makes monitoring the water level easy, especially if you install one of Gordo's gauge glass blow-down ball valves to keep your glass clean.

JoeyG

whats considered "useful life"

JStar what do you mean by "useful life" ?  If a boilers heating the house good should it be replaced past 15-20 years anyway?

 

JStar

Useful life

Efficiency drops every year. 15 years seems to be the average age when parts start to break down. Service calls can become way too frequent, and I'm in the mindset of being proactive instead of reactive with systems. Plus, technology seems to cycle every decade and allows you to choose a more efficient and comfortable way of heating our home.

Hap_Hazzard

Efficiency

This is still kind of a big unknown for me. If I could go to a three-pass, wet-base boiler with a power burner, I might consider making that jump, but to go with another atmospheric cast iron boiler I'd have to be convinced that the one I have is really on its last legs. I'm just not convinced that the technology of atmospheric cast iron sectional steam boilers has advanced that much in the last 30 years.



I have noted that I could get roughly the same output from a new 4-section boiler that I'm now getting from my 5-section, but I'm not sure how that translates to efficiency.



There has also been a trend towards making boilers primarily for hot water with steam as an afterthought, so newer boilers have smaller steam chests, requiring larger headers to compensate. While thoroughly insulating the header can reduce heat loss from the system, the total surface area available for heat loss is much greater if the steam chest is located outside of the boiler jacket, so this trend hasn't exactly advanced efficiency.



The only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that, when I do make a move, after months of careful research to find the best solution available, something new will come out before my new boiler is a year old that will make me wish I had waited, so maybe I should just go ahead and do it so technology can move forward. :-)

JStar

Moving forward

I should have also mentioned that, like technology, installation techniques change, too. I know that I would never install a boiler today the way that I did 5 years ago, or even 1 year ago.



Case in point...I never knew the advantage of a wet-based/power-burner arrangement. Now, it's nearly all that I offer. The higher efficiency justifies the extra cost to me.



We also have the ability to really fine tune a system, especially with TRV's, and venting, to be able to maximize a boiler's output, and then using an incredibly accurate firing rate without a lot of fluffy "what if" BTUH's.



However, you are right that most atmospheric boilers are not going to change dramatically. They're outdated, and have been outdated for many years. For me, it's like owning a car. The gas and brake pedals never change, and the main objective is to get from here to there, but when you can get 30 mpg, why settle for 20?



All systems break down eventually. I'm not a gambler. I'd rather buy a new car/boiler before I end up spending as much money on my old one as the new one costs.