Selling or donating a residential steam boiler in Boston area?

HarryL

I have a Burnham IN4I installed in Feb of 2017. Due to some remodeling we want to remove the steam. Is there a used market for residential boilers or an org that takes them for lower income families?

Jamie Hall

Not that I know of, but you might contact @New England SteamWorks .

That said -- why on earth do you want to remove the steam? If it's there and working properly, there is no more comfortable heat source for a residence. Nothing else comes close. Only a very well designed and installed mod/con hot water system has better efficiency -- and only by a few percent -- except heat pumps, which simply don't work well at Boston area design temperatures.

If the steam isn't working properly -- again, contact @New England SteamWorks .

Steamhead

Jamie Hall said:

......why on earth do you want to remove the steam? If it's there and working properly, there is no more comfortable heat source for a residence. Nothing else comes close. ...........

This.

BobC

I live just south of Boston and installed a heat pump in 2016. It cools the first floor well and I use it for heat on mild winter days. The system I installed does not have to capacity to heat the space when it gets very cold out.

This morning it was 10F outside when I got up and I was very glad as i walked by my bedroom radiator. The heat pump system I have will work down to 5F but the efficiency will be reduced and I would need a much larger system to handle a 60 degree difference in temperature.

Bob

SuperTech

Please don't remove the steam boiler and radiators. Just because it's steam and the pipes and radiators are old does not mean that a forced air unit is better. Cast iron radiators provide the best, most comfortable heat.

pecmsg

HarryL said:

I have a Burnham IN4I installed in Feb of 2017. Due to some remodeling we want to remove the steam.

Not a justifiable reason to change from steam.

You will regret it later.

mikeg2015

pecmsg said:

HarryL said:

I have a Burnham IN4I installed in Feb of 2017. Due to some remodeling we want to remove the steam.

Not a justifiable reason to change from steam.

You will regret it later.

No, their won’t. Pretty countertops and a beautiful master bath and noisy drafty forced air will make them happy. Same reason most people drive cars with numb steering and wooden brakes with engines that have 3x the available power that they will ever use.

ChrisJ

mikeg2015 said:

pecmsg said:

HarryL said:

I have a Burnham IN4I installed in Feb of 2017. Due to some remodeling we want to remove the steam.

Not a justifiable reason to change from steam.

You will regret it later.

No, their won’t. Pretty countertops and a beautiful master bath and noisy drafty forced air will make them happy. Same reason most people drive cars with numb steering and wooden brakes with engines that have 3x the available power that they will ever use.

Can we stay on topic and try not to attack people. Perhaps the OP is unknowingly making a mistake but that's no reason to attack people who like a certain lifestyle.

Not to mention what are wooden brakes?

SuperTech

> @pecmsg said:
> (Quote)
> Not a justifiable reason to change from steam

I was waiting for someone to chime in with this comment. 😁

Markinny

Hot water systems are much more efficient and comfortable with manifolds and zones. If I had the money I'd convert but I just installed a new steam boiler.

Chris_L

HarryL said:

I have a Burnham IN4I installed in Feb of 2017. Due to some remodeling we want to remove the steam. Is there a used market for residential boilers or an org that takes them for lower income families?

Assuming you are not convinced to keep your steam, you can often find used boilers listed for sale on Craigslist in the Boston area. For a donation, you might check to see if Boston Building Resources will take it: https://www.bostonbuildingresources.com/donate-building-materials/

Jamie Hall

Markinny said:

Hot water systems are much more efficient and comfortable with manifolds and zones. If I had the money I'd convert but I just installed a new steam boiler.

Much more efficient? Simply not true. It is true that a very good mod/con hot water system, with everything properly sized and installed and the controls setup to for maximum efficiency will be more efficient in shoulder seasons. The difference is about 10% under maximum optimum conditions, but any error in setting the mod/con controls, or needing to operate at less than optimum return temperatures (over 120 to 140) will erase that.

So more efficient under best conditions? Yes. Much more efficient? No.

Will it be much more comfortable? Again, that depends critically on having the mod/con system installed with very best practice, and it may -- or may not -- be more comfortable. Much more comfortable, no?

The ability to zone hot water heat may be a real plus in some situations, however.

Do try to be even-handed on these things; we benefit no one (except maybe the installer's bottom line) with exaggerated claims.

pecmsg

> @Markinny said:
> Hot water systems are much more efficient and comfortable with manifolds and zones. If I had the money I'd convert but I just installed a new steam boiler.

What about the cost of construction during changing all the pipes, emitters, boiler.

Markinny

Just did 3 of the manifold systems were about $ to $ swapping everything. Boiler swaps were similar to steam swapovers. The benefit of being able to have radiant heat us huge for homeowners. Being able to run snowmelt is also pretty sweet. Also the ability to have tankless hot water for essentially $ bucks more on combi units is huge. Tankless with steam is close to $. With efficiency analyzing have been between 97 to 98 % with ibc and navien units. My slant fin funs around 86%. Not knocking steam by any means hot water just seems more useful.

Jamie Hall

No prices, thank you -- they vary too much from place to place and job to job.

PMJ

Why is fuel efficiency the only number ever quoted, and talked about in a way that assumes it is the bottom line?

In my experience fuel efficiency is a very small part of the total annual cost picture. Equipment and service costs overwhelm fuel in the long term picture given all the bells and whistles and the shorter life span of today's equipment.

pecmsg

Markinny said:

Just did 3 of the manifold systems were about $**** swapping everything. Boiler swaps were similar to steam swapovers. The benefit of being able to have radiant heat us huge for homeowners. Being able to run snowmelt is also pretty sweet. Also the ability to have tankless hot water for essentially 60 bucks more on combi units is huge. Tankless with steam is close to $***. With efficiency analizing have been between 97 to 98 % with ibc and navien units. My slant fin funs around 86%. Not knocking steam by any means hot water just seems more useful.

So what a 20 - 30 year return on investment and maybe 20 year life span?

New construction maybe, retrofitting you get a much higher ROI with tightening the envelope.

ChrisJ

A properly working modcon is slightly more efficient than a properly working steam system and that's that.

"Much more efficient" is a lie.

Also as had already been mentioned a modcon won't last as long.

BobC

It's been decades since I've had to bring someone in to fix my steam system. Add up the cost of 20-30 years of required modcon servicing and see what that does to savings vis-a-vis a steam system.

Bob