Burnham V-74T oil fired steam boiler need new combustion chamber/insulation?

Dave_61

Hello,

We are purchasing a house that has a Burnham V-74T oil fired steam boiler. We had the boiler serviced and were told that the combustion chamber needs to be replaced.

We were told that the risk would be that we could cause damage to the cast iron with the damaged chamber and were quoted a price of between $400-500 to replace.

I was looking online and found the kits for about $80. Looks pretty straightforward. But then I read somewhere that if the boiler is wet base, the only thing truly needed is the target wall and there would not be a risk of damage.

Is this true for the model I have? I am presently not at the house to look at piping (we close in September). Is this a wet base boiler, or can it be piped in different ways? And is replacing combustion chamber optional?

Thanks
Dave

lchmb

It is in fact a wet based boiler. You can run it without a chamber for a short time in my opinion, but it will effect noise and efficiency. As far as doing it yourself, I would warn against it. You need to be able to clean out the existing chamber, properly install the new one (it's not as easy as it seems) and set up the combustion once done. Some things are just better left to the pro's..

New England SteamWorks

The V-7 is a wet base. You would want to install the entire kit. Then you'd want to confirm that the correct nozzle size is in use, and have the unit combustion tested.

HVACNUT

$80 is what you would pay for the chamber kit. Then what?
Like the others said, it's not an easy job for a homeowner to handle. Your out of luck before you even start because you don't have a soot vacuum or brushes. It will kill your shop vac.
The burner must be removed (no swing out door on the V7). The blast tube insertion depth probably has to be adjusted with the new front plate refractory. New burner flange gasket.
Start up, combustion analysis, draft and smoke tests.
Your paying for a job, not a chamber kit and the prices you got are reasonable.
I recently posted on another thread that Google tells you the price for a part (the company will mark it up and rightly so), but they don't tell you the labor, experience and overhead to do a repair.
Pay for it. Sleep soundly, and save the black snot for the professionals.

Dave_61

Thanks guys. I will definitely call and have the pros do it. Sometimes these YouTube videos make things seem much easier than they are.

BobC

i agree that job is best left to the pro's. Keep in mind the V7 boiler series had problems because of suspect castings, mine lasted almost 16 years and many didn't last that long. Just make sure they carefully examine the block sections to be sure it has enough life left in it to justify the repair. I'd hate to see you spend that money and then lose a section of the block because of a leak the next season.

If the sections are in good shape the repair is well worth the cost.

Bob

Steamhead

@Dave , where are you located? We may know someone who can help. Have you tried the Find a Contractor page of this site?