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Steam in Philadelphia

Polycarp
Polycarp Member Posts: 135
in Strictly Steam
Any recommendations for a steam tech in Philadelphia? We've tried Oceans of Water and Pompetti Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., but neither are available. Ay others?

Comments

  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    What exactly is going on? Repair, replacement? Residential, commercial?

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,511
    Steve is a good one.
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    Oh my brother is probably the best steam guy around, just flies under the radar. Practically every oil company and mechanical contractor in this area calls him in to install, or fix an install.
    I just watch and try to learn.

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • EricBaisch
    EricBaisch Member Posts: 16
    I am also in Philly. If you are looking to have a new wet based boiler installed I may be able to help. I have just been thru that. It only took a year.
    nicholas bonham-carter
  • Polycarp
    Polycarp Member Posts: 135
    Sorry to be brief before, I was trying to get this out before getting on a plane.

    The steam boiler in my rental is not responding to calls for heat. Since I am not local, I do not know the cause of the issue. The property manager's vendors don't really do steam, so they gave me the standard "the unit is extremely old and needs to be replaced" because they don't know how to fix it and figure if they replace it, they'll end up fixing the problem.

    I need someone to assess the problem and fix it. I'd like to also find someone that I can set up an annual maintenance contract with since it turns out the annual maintenance hasn't been getting done like it was supposed to.

    (Incidentally, this is the third or fourth time I've been told the boiler is extremely old and needs to be replaced. And none of those times did it actually need to be replaced. Each time the repair was fairly straightforward, sometimes even minor and only once had anything to do with the boiler itself. The unit has been in service for less than 10 years, so I told the PM that his vendor is either incompetent or lying, guess I'm kind of fed up with the lines.)
  • Polycarp
    Polycarp Member Posts: 135
    Oh, I guess some details on the system might actually help:

    Natural Gas, SlantFin, one-pipe parallel flow, wet returns, Gifford Loop instead of Hartford.
  • nicholas bonham-carter
    nicholas bonham-carter Member Posts: 8,578
    edited December 2016
    10 years is not very old for a well installed, and maintained boiler.
    Any practical person/handyman should be able to diagnose the problem.
    Check for 24 volts on the control circuit.
    Jumper the thermostat wires to simulate a call for heat, and if not firing, measure voltage at the safeties, (one of which is preventing the burner from coming on), one after the other:
    Pressuretrol
    LWCO(s)
    Flame rollout switch
    Flue Damper switch
    I wish the manufacturers would put telltale lights on every one of those electrical safeties, so that would make the diagnosis easier. They could shine red for open, and green for ok. Not a costly option at all.
    Sometimes, accidental overfilling of the boiler will exert enough static pressure on the pressuretrol to simulate high pressure.
    Maybe through the local supply house, (Fergusson?), you could find a retired boiler tech to take over this maintenance, as it seems your Property Manager is not qualified.--NBC
    I should add that 10 years could be the lifespan of a forced air furnace, but not a boiler.


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