advice on boiler/header replacement?

wfst

I live in a 100 year old house with a two-pipe Webster steam system. I moved in three years ago, and the system has run well- quiet, nice steam heat. I had all the steam traps replaced the first winter. All radiators work fine and there is no hammering in this system.



This year we found a crack in the top of my 20 year old gas-fired Burnham boiler. It is feeding water with every cycle now to replace the steam going out my chimney, but we still have heat. But it needs to be replaced.



I've had a couple people out to look at it, and I've gotten very different quotes. The problem is that there is a very odd header on this boiler. The assumption we've made is that each time the boiler has been replaced over the last 100 years, they just tacked on a new header on the sytem- so there are three.



I've attached some pics to this, as well as a diagram of how it all is hooked up, since its hard to see what's happening from the angle of the pics.



Depending on who I talk to, I've gotten two options.



Option A: Replace the boiler, leave everything else as it is. The reasoning being that since the system works now, why mess with it?



Option B: Replace the boiler and redo the header. This is a pretty big job in a small space. The reasoning on this option is that the header is not correct, and we should take the opportunity to fix this.



Keep in mind that the lowest cost option (Option A) is pretty expensive, and the quote for Option B is really, really expensive (double option A).



Any advice from the experts on this forum?

JStar

Header

There is not much done corectly with the header, so it's better to start over. Have the header sized properly for the new boiler, and clean it all up. It'll be worth it. You'll also need a Vaporstat, not a Pressuretrol to make that system work very well. Dry steam + Low pressure = Happy steam.

Mark N

Triple Header

Looking at your pictures and diagram, it would seem that header 1 has no swing joints and the take off to riser 2 is between the risers from the boiler. Having no swing joints might have caused the boiler to crack. Without swing joints the expansion of the header will act like a pry bar on the boiler sections. Have the new boiler repiped properly.

JohnNY

You'd be best served by getting rid of what you've got there.

That's not an acceptable way to make steam by any professional's standards.

vaporvac

Take the above advice!

Those are pros who just gave you advice and some of the best steam people around. I'm a homeowner and am in process of replacing my boiler. Believe me, these boilers can leak like sieves and still make steam. It's just costing you alot to make it. Unless something drastic has changed, you may have had it for a while and not have known it. The leak would cause a lower pressure, I think, and so would keep some problems from appearing. It is expensive...I knew mine was going and saved for it. It sounds like you're lucky and have found someone willing and able to replace it correctly.



Maybe the pros can advise if there's any way to do part now and the rest later, to get you through the winter and absorb the cost better, but I'm betting they'll advise doing it right from the get go.



BTW. that is the craziest header I've seen on this site...none of them look correct. However, this points out the beauty of steam. Even when improperly done it can still give great heat, something that can't be said for most other systems. I might also add, that many newer boilers are configured differently for better efficiency and aren't so forgiving of these sorts of mistakes. You have a premium system that can run quite efficiently if given a chance. C