Do I have Steam or Water Boiler images included

Bommer87

I think it is water can someone please tell me

Mike_Sheppard

Water

Bommer87

how hard would it be to replace this myself is it just a matter of disconnecting the lines popping in a new one and connecting the lines again

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I don't recommend it unless you have a good knowledge of mechanical systems and have a lot of time to read the boiler manufacturer's instructions and some of the books available on this site.

It's a LOT more than cut and paste, but there are many non-professionals on HeatingHelp here that have installed their own boilers. Maybe they can chime in.

Mike_Sheppard

I strongly suggest hiring a professional. You have electrical, oil, combustion, and venting to worry about too.

mattmia2

You have a lot of things going on there that aren't the way they do them now, whoever replaces it has to understand that and how to adapt and retrofit to modern technologies. You could do it, but you would have a lot to learn about the history of that system on top of how to engineer and install a modern boiler. You would need one of the better professionals to do a good job of replacing that boiler.

Steamhead

Mike_Sheppard said:

I strongly suggest hiring a professional. You have electrical, oil, combustion, and venting to worry about too.

mattmia2 said:

You have a lot of things going on there that aren't the way they do them now, whoever replaces it has to understand that and how to adapt and retrofit to modern technologies. You could do it, but you would have a lot to learn about the history of that system on top of how to engineer and install a modern boiler. You would need one of the better professionals to do a good job of replacing that boiler.

What they said. Where are you located?

delta T

Oil is a fickle dog of the female persuasion. unless you have the correct tools and know how to properly set it up, you are setting yourself up for failure.....or worse.

Agree with all of the above. Tell us where you are, and we may be able to recommend a good pro. Don't fall into the trap of tying to save a buck now that may cost you 10x more later to fix.

Pumpguy

I'm going to take the opposite tack here.

Back in the mid 50s, my Dad replaced our old coal fired Holland gravity hot air octopus furnace with with a gas fired hot water kit that Sears sold at that time. Over the summer he installed all the baseboard rads, ran the copper tubing, poured the pad for the boiler, installed the expansion tank and circulating pump; everything.

Now, my Dad was not a tradesman of any kind, although he was rather mechanically inclined.

So, on that basis, I think this could be a DIY project IF you do your research and follow all the instructions. The only caveat I would offer is that the controls were much simpler 60 years ago, and that might be an area where some professional help would be useful.

delta T

@Pumpguy I agree with the sentiment, running copper piping and dealing with the piping side is definitely something a dedicated DIYer can accomplish. The oil fired side of things is another matter. There is a lot of fine tuning and set up on an oil burner that can be destructive, costly and dangerous if it is not done correctly. Compared with oil, gas is much more forgiving, and most of the time (on an atmospheric boiler) will run just fine out of the box with out any tweaking. If you do not have the proper equipment and knowledge to tune the combustion on the oil burner, you are asking for trouble IMHO.

Jellis

It would not be "plug and play" a fair amount of re-piping re-wiring would be required.
Given that you are unfamiliar enough to not know if its steam or water I would not recommend doing the replacement yourself.

Pumpguy

@delta T I see. Never had any experience or exposure with oil fired.

@jellis, referring to your second paragraph, I agree completely.

Intplm.

@Bommer87 Be sure to do a lot and I mean A LOT ! of homework on this issue before doing this job.
It will not be a direct replacement project for you.
Maybe Start by choosing a boiler and doing a heat loss calculation .