Looking for steam heat contractor

erussell58

I am in search of a very knowledgeable and qualified person or company to assist with maintenance and repairs on a large residential stream system on the Eastern Sore of Maryland. The makeup of the system is a new Weil-McClain 688 Oil fired boiler on a 18,000 sq. ft. home. 

KC_Jones

@Steamhead I think goes down there and he is one of the best in the business.

I saw your other post, would part of this be to properly pipe the boiler also?

coolfx35

that's a huge house...

erussell58

KC_Jones, yes sir you are correct! 

erussell58

KC_Jones, yes, @Steamhead does and has come down this way. They are absolutely terrific guys. In fact they came down a few weeks ago to look over the new boiler and do a startup. But.... they are extremely busy and can not get back until next spring. I know we need a lot of traps worked on. A new header for the boiler, tune ups on all the convectors, etc. etc. I am doing my best to come up with a maintenance schedule for this old house I have just inherited!

KC_Jones

@Steamhead and his partner in crime @Gordo are fantastic with steam. If you want to see their work Gordon posts on youtube a fair amount. Here is a link to his channel, some really great stuff over there.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA_ZKNA-k-nA4eH5qNb3jXA/videos

erussell58

KC_Jones, yes, I have actually been recovering from surgery and spent last week on nothing but their YouTube videos and others!  Gordo is a fantastic wealth of knowledge!!!

ethicalpaul

Any contractor who can't come back until spring is by definition not charging enough!

KC_Jones

ethicalpaul said:

Any contractor who can't come back until spring is by definition not charging enough!

If it was my house and it was a train wreck of banging and clanging, I'd still wait for @Steamhead I am not aware of any others in the area that are worthwhile. The OP has already seen what the other guys can do, take your money and do poor work.

Steve Minnich

@ethicalpaul I disagree. Like many of the best shops, I’m guessing Steamhead and Gordo made a conscious decision to stay small, and I applaud that decision. Too many companies that have the biggest names in any given area, are only concerned with putting as many trucks on the street as possible. And many of them don’t care how much they have to dilute the talent to do so. 

Your statement that they’re not charging enough is based on what exactly? Have you seen their books? I didn’t think so. 

JUGHNE

"If you are too busy....you Could be too cheap"

I confess that I was guilty of that myself.

They have a pretty specialized trade.

Steamhead

@erussell58 , we may be the closest steam contractor to your location. We've certainly done a lot of work there- here is an earlier thread on the subject:

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/137289/de-knuckleheading-the-webster-system-at-walter-chryslers-old-hunting-lodge

BTW, that was @Gordo who came down a couple weeks ago, not me.

erussell58

Yes sir, thank you @Gordo! I stand corrected. Just now learning how to use this forum. Can you send him back for a few weeks? Let @Gordo know I had the oil company who did the install replace the check valves and entire new boiler feed line back to the boiler, replaced and properly put back below the waterline. Walllllaahhhh... no more banging there! The Secondary LWCO McDonell Miller 63 continually kept locking out after  an hour of operation...sometimes up to 6 hours of operation. It was so frustrating. Finally one of the techs adjusted the primary LWCO 150S to allow the feed water replace sooner and that helped eliminate that problem although it did lock out a time or two after that adjustment. We finally decided to replace the entire feed line and have it installed correctly and now we’re back to continuous operation, albeit now short cycling.... baby steps... we’re going to get there!

KC_Jones

Just out of curiosity, how much make up water is it using? You said feeding water, is this a boiler feed tank, condensate pump, or fresh water?

ethicalpaul

Steve Minnich said:

@ethicalpaul I disagree. Like many of the best shops, I’m guessing Steamhead and Gordo made a conscious decision to stay small, and I applaud that decision. Too many companies that have the biggest names in any given area, are only concerned with putting as many trucks on the street as possible. And many of them don’t care how much they have to dilute the talent to do so. 

Your statement that they’re not charging enough is based on what exactly? Have you seen their books? I didn’t think so. 

Hi Steve. I never said they should get bigger. I said that by definition any business that is booked solid for 6 months is by definition not charging enough.

They are 100% turning away people who would pay more for their service. Of course that decision is up to them, so I should have said something like:

"Any business that is booked until spring is leaving money on the table!"

And I'm sure you know that customers who are willing to pay the market rate for good service are far better than a random selection of customers who happened to get on a waiting list.

Steve Minnich

It’s a tough call for contractors who aren’t willing to lower the bar just a little bit. I was one of those guys and I know I left money on the table by not expanding. 

I’m ok with that. 100 years from now...

erussell58

KC_Jones.. we have a condensate pump in the basement of the main house that pumps the condensate approximately 300-400 ft. To the boiler located in another building. That condensate then goes into another condensate tank that has a fresh water make up installed on the tank as back up. The condensate is then pumped to the boiler when called for. 

JUGHNE

So the steam main makes the same long trip...underground?

Steamhead

Yup.

The unit in the main house is a "condensate transfer pump".

The one near the boiler is a "boiler-feed pump".