Steam boiler replacement for a Burnham V83

BrianStMarie

Hi folks,

I have the Burnham curse, and over the winter my 14 years young Burnham V83 steam boiler developed a leak about 2 inches below the top of the heat exchanger.

I'm now in the sad position of having to replace the system. This system also has a tankless coil for hot water, which has worked fine for us. Due to limitations in the chimney size, I can't add a separate hot water heater, and because this system should have lasted another 10 years at least, I am really not interested in breaking the bank by adding an indirect tank or direct vent hot water heater.

What gas-powered steam boilers still have tankless coil options for hot water and will work in a small, residential setup? The unit is only 1100 sq ft with 5 radiators, so most likely the smallest size available will be more than enough. We are going with gas, not oil. And obviously, something that isn't a Burnham would be preferred; I'm not exactly impressed with their workmanship or customer service around this well known problem.

Thank you.

STEAM DOCTOR

Weil Mclain and Slantfin make gas steamers with tankless coils

BrianStMarie

Great, thanks. Any idea what models? I've done some poking around, but I'm not seeing which models support tankless coils.

STEAM DOCTOR

Think that all the WM's come with the tankless option

Fred

The very first thing you need to do is calculate the total EDR of those five radiators. Then you can select the properly sized boiler for your heating needs and find one that has the Hot water coil.

The Steam Whisperer

For something that small in gas, you may want to look at the Peerless 63 series. About 15% heavier than the comparible WM EG boiler, so the castings are much beefier. I don't think it comes with a coil. You'd have to go to the EC series for that. However, it comes with tapping for an indirect.

BrianStMarie

Received a quote for a WM EG-30 just now, with a tankless coil. The EDR for the unit is 139.5 so the EG-30 seems like it'll be more than enough (196 sq ft of steam).

How are the WM EG systems for reliability and longevity? I don't want to be replacing it in another 10 years!

Thank you all for the help.

ChrisJ

BrianStMarie said:

Received a quote for a WM EG-30 just now, with a tankless coil. The EDR for the unit is 139.5 so the EG-30 seems like it'll be more than enough (196 sq ft of steam).

How are the WM EG systems for reliability and longevity? I don't want to be replacing it in another 10 years!

Thank you all for the help.

When we bought our house in 2011 it had a rotted V83. The stuff I found showed the V83 rotted out once after 3 years, and then again after 5 years. Twice in 8 years.

I installed an EG-40 my self, fixed all of the leaks and run water treatment. I'm now on year 6 and the boiler shows no signs of age.

Fix the leaks.

Use water treatment, even contact Rhomar and have them test your water and recommend what to do.

And your boiler will last plenty long, likely even the V83 could have under those conditions.

Jamie Hall

Longevity? Good question. I had one die in 4 years -- but it had wasn't that well installed. Cedric is going on for 10 with no known problems.

KC_Jones

My "original" WM EG series was 32 years old when it died. I had it for 12 of those years, I am hoping the new one lasts longer as I am doing better maintenance and using water treatment. Won't know for a while how that pans out.

Dave0176

I'm a WM dealer and I can tell you I've pulled boilers out that we're 40 years old and some that we're as little as 18. It depends on water quality, maintinence, and the quality of the installation.

Everyone has their preference of boiler brand, I will however say that in this part of NJ Burnham seems to suffer the most, that I've seen anyway.

newagedawn

peerless ect models 3,4,5? how much EDR do you have?

ChrisJ

newagedawn said:

peerless ect models 3,4,5? how much EDR do you have?

He's got 140 sqft.

Fred

I have a 34 year old Burnham. Still going strong! As has been said, maintenance, water quality and making sure you don't have leaks in the system that entail adding a lot of fresh water throughout the heating season are key to longevity and good boiler operation.