Still losing water...

neilc

pretty sure there's a top notch guy with you there in Baltimore,
look him up, or someone here will chime in

Jamie Hall

Baltimore? Do contact @Steamhead -- he's sort of our senior guru, after Dan!

SlowYourRoll

neilc said:

you also want the installer to show you the manual, and how they are going to, and are following, the piping diagram to the T, or better, including pipe size, no copper above the water line, swing joints, black iron,

if you have extra cash get them to pipe in some glass, like Paul did, #kidding

well if i'm not heating the Great Outdoors this winter i might just have that extra $$$

seriously thanks for all your help. i'll be doing my research first, but it looks like there's a legit steam specialist in my area with good reviews all over the internet. now i just need to figure out if i can get my home insurance to pay for them (i'm assuming they'll cost more) or if they're gonna try to steer me towards the lowest bidder.

neilc

you'ld be fine to have Steamhead,

Jamie Hall

You'll get what you pay for -- and if you get @Steamhead (his firm is "All Steamed Up", 410-321-8116, you'll get a job which will keep you happy for years -- dare I say decades -- to come.

ethicalpaul

Home insurance pays for a boiler?

Fred

ethicalpaul said:

Home insurance pays for a boiler?

Whole House warranties
Some claim to but I don't know what hoops you have to jump through to make it happen.

JUGHNE

And most likely take the lowest hack bid.
But they should cut you a check for that amount and let you spend it where you wish.
But there are many stories of unhappy endings with home warranty companies in the AC side of things.

SlowYourRoll

ethicalpaul said:

Home insurance pays for a boiler?

Fred said:

ethicalpaul said:

Home insurance pays for a boiler?

Whole House warranties
Some claim to but I don't know what hoops you have to jump through to make it happen.

we actually added the appliances to the home insurance policy last year, so it's a part of the home insurance itself, not a separate home warranty. if the hot water heater or boiler or anything else dies we pay a $1000 deductible and then they take over after that. seemed like a good idea at the time, right? now i'm looking at my current boiler with copper over the waterline and all those other little things mentioned here and in the books and i'm wondering if it just might be worth it to get a real steam person in to do the work if the insurance company tries to steer me towards the lowest bidder. whoever did the last work was definitely clueless or taking the previous owners for a ride. one day i'll post their "solution" for heating the semi-finished basement on the cheap.

SlowYourRoll

Jamie Hall said:

You'll get what you pay for -- and if you get @Steamhead (his firm is "All Steamed Up", 410-321-8116, you'll get a job which will keep you happy for years -- dare I say decades -- to come.

yeah that's who came up in the search. sounds very promising. if i'm able to that's who i'm going with. i've had one nightmare after another with stuff done on the cheap by previous owners. it's a 1927 house. it's well built. but boy are there some interesting choices people made over the years.

coolfx35

@SlowYourRoll - Its a burnham, how old is the unit? I had the problem with boiler is leaking on the top of the cast iron, so you won't noticed water near the boiler, but if you fill the water all the way up, you will see leaks. happened to me and many others with burnham. Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFLPhENA24E

If you going to get a replacement, don't get burnham.. mine only last 12 years, burnham claimed it's the water quality.. Maybe true, but it's also a problem with their manufacturing defects.

Good luck.

ethicalpaul

Even This Old House knows the Hartford Loop isn't helpful

Rusty18

Recently had the same experience @SlowYourRoll. Here's a sneak peak of what your boiler might look like - the combustion chamber's appearance was especially shocking.

SlowYourRoll

coolfx35 said:

@SlowYourRoll - Its a burnham, how old is the unit? I had the problem with boiler is leaking on the top of the cast iron, so you won't noticed water near the boiler, but if you fill the water all the way up, you will see leaks. happened to me and many others with burnham. Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFLPhENA24E

If you going to get a replacement, don't get burnham.. mine only last 12 years, burnham claimed it's the water quality.. Maybe true, but it's also a problem with their manufacturing defects.

Good luck.

Dang, will have to take a look in there this weekend and see if it's in the top like that. If I get a new boiler I'll be going with one of the steam people listed on this site so I'd hope they would steer me away from a bad manufacturer. Will keep in mind. I was actually circling back here to ask if I should bother with Hercules Boiler Solder or Boiler Liquid to patch the leak, but it's like you said, no water near the boiler until I fill it all the way up, so I bet it's just like that video, in which case none of those Hercules products would make a lick of difference. Thanks!

SlowYourRoll

Rusty18 said:

Recently had the same experience @SlowYourRoll. Here's a sneak peak of what your boiler might look like - the combustion chamber's appearance was especially shocking.

Oof. Yeah I'm betting it won't be pretty. I was hoping I'd be able to salvage mine but it looks like I'll be getting a fresh start on a new boiler. At least this one I'll take better care of.

coolfx35

This is mine.

You could probably do some patching, but just keep in mind that it might failed in a middle of a very cold day, and make sure you have backup. I have 2 little kids at home and I wasn't going to take a risk.

Steamhead

SlowYourRoll said:

ethicalpaul said:

Sounds good! Since you are an engineer, get this book from the HH store: https://heatinghelp.com/store/detail/the-lost-art-of-steam-heating-revisited

If you were a normal mortal I'd recommend We Got Steam Heat, but I think you'll get more out of the one above.

Just so I know, what is a "monthly bleed"?

Thanks, I actually bought it a few weeks ago and am working my way through it. I totally love it. Thanks though. Yeah, I love those old systems that needed mechanical solutions for everything. I used to operate an old Linotype Machine at a local museum. Now THAT was a crazy contraption. If you love steam you'd probably get a kick out of seeing one of those in action.

You think a Linotype is a crazy contraption? Try watching a "Panel" telephone switching machine. You can see one working in a museum in Seattle.

Steamhead

SlowYourRoll said:

Jamie Hall said:

You'll get what you pay for -- and if you get @Steamhead (his firm is "All Steamed Up", 410-321-8116, you'll get a job which will keep you happy for years -- dare I say decades -- to come.

yeah that's who came up in the search. sounds very promising. if i'm able to that's who i'm going with. i've had one nightmare after another with stuff done on the cheap by previous owners. it's a 1927 house. it's well built. but boy are there some interesting choices people made over the years.

We're on it- thanks for all the kind words.