Smith Boiler / Carlin EZ-Gas Conversion

Bob421

Hi and I would like to thank all involved for this Great site.



Our house is a 1,000 sq ft ranch in Milford CT and is currently using a 6 year old 91,000 BTU Smith Boiler 8W-3T for heating and domestic hot water.



This past spring myself and a few neighbors had gas lines installed from the street to our homes, that was the easy part. I had done research in the past and found where Carlin made a conversion burner for my boiler. I contacted Smith Boiler and they told that the Carlin EZ-Gas conversion burner works well on my boiler and that they had marketed the boiler with that burner for two years without issue. I then contacted Carlin and they confirmed that they sold the EZ-Gas burner to Smith and had no issues.



The bad news, every heating contractor that I have contacted about converting my boiler to gas has flat out told me that they will not do it and that it is a waste of money except for one contractor who told me that he does conversions all the time but unfortunately I am still waiting for a quote, it has been three weeks and he will not return a phone call or reply to an email.



The other bad news has to do with a chimney liner; many contractors do not return calls, are too busy to come out to give a quote or just seem to pick numbers out of the air. I did have one contractor come out and he stated that because I have a fireplace running a chimney liner to the boiler is difficult, I received his quote - $3000.00.



My question, In your opinions should I continue to pursue converting this perfectly good (in my eyes) Smith boiler or should I just give in and have one of these new direct vent combo units installed?    

Steamhead

Convert it

no reason to scrap that boiler. Remember this is the busy season for hopefully all of us, so it might take a bit to get back to you unless you have an emergency.



Not sure if he comes into CT, but Charlie from WMass is a frequent poster who has a lot of experience with the Smith 8/EZ-Gas combo. Can't hurt to call him:



http://www.heatinghelp.com/professional/221/Charles-Garrity-and-Son-Plumbing-and-Heating

Bob421

Thanks

Steamhead,

 

Thank you for the referral, I will call Charlie tomorrow.

 

Bob 

Paul48

Hard

You'll find it hard to get someone to do the conversion. But, there is one in Milford, CT that can and will do the job correctly. Had mine done last season by Climate Partners. I live in West Haven and have a Smith series 8/ 5section.

Bob421

Thanks

I will give them a call and post back.