Anybody Know a Steam Contractor in Baltimore Other Than Steamhead?

SlowYourRoll

Hey All,
I've got a house where the steam boiler is completely dead. I wish I could work with the lovely and esteemed @Steamhead on this one, but unfortunately the fuse box can't handle all the space heaters, and I need someone who can get in there ASAP. Does anyone know a contractor other than Frank and Gordon in the Baltimore area? Much appreciated.

mattmia2

Maybe he knows someone.

How dead is dead? You will pay for a bad install at least twice, can it be made to limp along? Maybe an electrician?

WMno57

Drain the plumbing, winterize the traps, and take a vacation.

WMno57

Looking at the Baltimore 7 day forecast, I doubt it will get below freezing inside most homes with no heat. You could leave one space heater in the middle of the basement.

JohnNY

I recommend Frank and Gordon. Just saying.

AdmiralYoda

Why is it dead? Dead can mean alot of things. Care to elaborate? Leaking water? No ignition?

Jamie Hall

AdmiralYoda said:

Why is it dead? Dead can mean alot of things. Care to elaborate? Leaking water? No ignition?

Good question. If it's the burner or control, can't you get your fuel supplier in there? Or did the boiler simply fall in pieces on the floor? Even a pretty large leak can be limped along with for a while...

SlowYourRoll

@Steamhead declared it dead. unfortunately my ex-wife is currently living in the house, so I can't do pictures or anything like that, but Frank said it was shooting flames at the bottom, so pretty dead. if I were there I'd be making it work until I got Frank and Gordon, but there's going to be some pretty hefty legal consequences for me if I don't get this fixed soon.

The good news is Warrior Plumbing just told me they can price me a new boiler today, they just need to see the service tag of the old one 🥴..... when I inquired further he actually said the old one is almost always the right size. so yeah, on to the next guy.....

SlowYourRoll

oh and specifically i believe Frank said it rusted out. there had previously been a steam leak above the waterline, so frequently replenishing with tap water the last 2 years accelerated it's demise I'm guessing.

SlowYourRoll

i appreciate the help everyone. i really had been looking forward to working with All Steamed Up.

 oh also just to follow up on something i posted a few years back, I got extended insurance to cover major appliances a few years ago, and the insurance company is actually paying for the replacement, minus the $1,000 deductible. of course they sent out their own guy who came back and said that all it needed was a water feeder replaced, but I quickly pointed out that he somehow failed to notice that there was a steam leak, which he didn't even have to get out of the car to diagnose, he could have just looked up at the chimney. anyway, they just needed another note from all steamed up, and they were ready to cut me a check.

SlowYourRoll

WMno57 said:

Drain the plumbing, winterize the traps, and take a vacation.

  i wish. i NEED a vacation 

Ironman

Cast iron boilers are scarce as hen’s teeth. Even if you can find someone else competent to do it, you may have to wait for a boiler to become available.

SlowYourRoll

I've heard the boilers are scarce but places seem to have them. the company that's doing a walk-through tomorrow said they could probably get one installed end of this week, early next week. we were scheduled to get one done early January but my ex actually sabotaged that contract and the company said they wouldn't work with us, they didn't want to get in the middle of it. this whole process has been a nightmare and a half. you would not even believe.

JUGHNE

If you are in the position of being the "landlord" for your ex, then an offer of an extended stay at a good hotel should hold her lawyers at bay.

But from what I read of these situations, your lawyer should talk to her lawyer.

SlowYourRoll

JUGHNE said:

If you are in the position of being the "landlord" for your ex, then an offer of an extended stay at a good hotel should hold her lawyers at bay.

But from what I read of these situations, your lawyer should talk to her lawyer.

we've been communicating with her lawyer, but you would not even believe the stuff she's pulled to interfere with this. i know that sounds ridiculous, why would she interfere if she's the one without heat? you would not believe it unless you saw it for yourself. anyway that's something for another non-HVAC message board

but i've been supporting two households on a single income for two years now, so hotel stay is out of the question.

ethicalpaul

See if All Steamed Up will let you pay them to size the boiler at least

ChrisJ

I don't know about Baltimore, but this weekend is going to be colder than a cast iron commode on the shadier side of an iceberg in NJ.

Steamhead

It's a rusted-out Burnham Independence. Finally quit because the roll-out safety opened. It's toast. We shut off the power and gas to it.

I sent them a proposal. When we get a signed contract and deposit, we'll order the boiler.

BobC

I lived with an outhouse on top of a mountain in Korea (two seater with flow through ventilation on the edge of a cliff) for 13 months. At least we had a diesel stove to keep our Quonset hut bearable. I saw the bottom fall out of the thermometer a few times and the Siberian express drove that point home.

ChrisJ

BobC said:

I lived with an outhouse on top of a mountain in Korea (two seater with flow through ventilation on the edge of a cliff) for 13 months. At least we had a diesel stove to keep our Quonset hut bearable. I saw the bottom fall out of the thermometer a few times and the Siberian express drove that point home.

YOU had an outhouse!?!
We didn't even have that.... Going outside at 3AM during a snowstorm is wonderful.

ChrisJ

SlowYourRoll said:

Hey All,
I've got a house where the steam boiler is completely dead. I wish I could work with the lovely and esteemed @Steamhead on this one, but unfortunately the fuse box can't handle all the space heaters, and I need someone who can get in there ASAP. Does anyone know a contractor other than Frank and Gordon in the Baltimore area? Much appreciated.

No.

Hap_Hazzard

ChrisJ said:

YOU had an outhouse!?!
We didn't even have that.... Going outside at 3AM during a snowstorm is wonderful.

Did you have to back up to take a leak?

BobC

Rose Hall was a bit sparse, especially when the mercury dropped near -40 but she performed her duties well until the night she almost lost her head. It was during monsoon season when we had a strong storm work it's way through, rain and wind beyond belief. The next morning I woke up with sun in my eyes which was strange. The wind was so strong it pulled the south end of the Quonset away and left a 2" gap between the shell and end wall, Lucky for us that Quonset was cabled into the bedrock with heavy steel cables and cement.

After getting dressed i made my way down to perform my duty and when I opened the door I was amazed how bright is was inside. After taking a seat I grabbed a Stars and Stripes to while away the time when I glanced up ad saw our roof was GONE. The wind had blown it off but it didn't get far, the cable that powered the bare bulb in the ceiling had tethered it so all we had to do was haul it back up and hail it back on.



We did use a few more nails this time. The Koreans used to bid on the job of cleaning it out for the brown gold to fertilize their fields.

Bob

SlowYourRoll

Thanks for all the help everybody. Unfortunately my ex is living in the house and has partial custody, and now that the space heaters are blowing fuses it starts becoming a custody issue, i.e. I'm not a fit father if I let my girls stay in a house with intermittent heat...which is true actually. if a fuse blows in the night and the house gets down to 30 a judge isn't going to care about waiting a few months to get the best guy, they're going to inform me i have 48hrs to get the heat working or else

mattmia2

If you are blowing fuses you are significantly beyond overloaded and it is a fire hazard.

SlowYourRoll

mattmia2 said:

If you are blowing fuses you are significantly beyond overloaded and it is a fire hazard.

thanks, I'll let them know. the boiler is getting installed today, should be up and running tomorrow, so will let them know to take it easy tonight and use some heating pads under the covers instead

SlowYourRoll

mattmia2 said:

If you are blowing fuses you are significantly beyond overloaded and it is a fire hazard.

it's also entirely possible the ex made up the part about blowing fuses to get it done faster. she's furious it isn't done, despite all the delays she's caused. at one point she was insisting on filming me and the contractor the entire time we did our walkthrough.

ChrisJ

SlowYourRoll said:

mattmia2 said:

If you are blowing fuses you are significantly beyond overloaded and it is a fire hazard.

thanks, I'll let them know. the boiler is getting installed today, should be up and running tomorrow, so will let them know to take it easy tonight and use some heating pads under the covers instead

Please let us know how it goes.

SlowYourRoll

ChrisJ said:

SlowYourRoll said:

mattmia2 said:

If you are blowing fuses you are significantly beyond overloaded and it is a fire hazard.

thanks, I'll let them know. the boiler is getting installed today, should be up and running tomorrow, so will let them know to take it easy tonight and use some heating pads under the covers instead

Please let us know how it goes.

I've got pictures from Day 1. When I did the walkthrough yesterday I remembered about the solder on copper joints getting leaks over time and requested threaded steel pipe. The tech explained they use this system now with a rubber gasket at the joint instead of solder, so that setup sounded like it solved the torque problem to me. It wasn't until yesterday evening (after the contract was sent to insurance and work was scheduled) that I reread about the other problem of copper, how it leeches into the water/steam and creates more rust. So that is unfortunate, but that's on me. I wish I'd had time to actually think things over, re-read the books, read the install manual etc., but when the ex-wife starts talking about "unheated house" and "bomb cyclone" and "custody" you kinda hurry up. Anyway, without further ado...

mattmia2

It is supposed to be a close nipple or street ell where the hartford loop turns down from the equalizer. That horizontal section can hold water where steam from the equalizer can meet it and can cause water hammer.

Copper shouldn't be used because of its greater coeeficient of thermal expansion and its greater conductivity. The greater conductivity means it cools and condenses the steam passing through it more.

It doesn't look completely awful, if they get the pitches right, they sized the boiler right, and they skim it properly it should work ok, assuming there aren't other system problems out there.

obviously romex can't be exposed like that.

SlowYourRoll

mattmia2 said:

It is supposed to be a close nipple or street ell where the hartford loop turns down from the equalizer. That horizontal section can hold water where steam from the equalizer can meet it and can cause water hammer.

Thanks! I will let them know.

mattmia2 said:

Copper shouldn't be used because of its greater coeeficient of thermal expansion and its greater conductivity. The greater conductivity means it cools and condenses the steam passing through it more.

I was thinking the rubber gasket in the copper joints ought to handle the thermal expansion problem, but that's not based on any real world experience. The thermal conductivity is a good point. I was thinking that's less of an issue on the big pipes because of how surface-area-to-volume ratio scales with diameter...i.e. a 1/2" pipe has 6x more surface area in contact with steam as a 3" pipe holding an equivalent volume. do you think i can get by with insulating those pipes? or should i switch over to steel? it would just be the two pipes + ell from the header to the main that would need replacing, right?

mattmia2 said:

It doesn't look completely awful, if they get the pitches right, they sized the boiler right, and they skim it properly it should work ok, assuming there aren't other system problems out there.

obviously romex can't be exposed like that.

they're mid-install, so yeah they'll get that romex where it needs to go. i went through and replaced the main vent (some big Gorton, forget which) and put Hoffman steam traps on all the radiators a few years ago. they said they would skim it properly. so i guess we'll have to wait and see, cause I'm not moving back in until 2025.

SlowYourRoll

mattmia2 said:

It is supposed to be a close nipple or street ell where the hartford loop turns down from the equalizer. That horizontal section can hold water where steam from the equalizer can meet it and can cause water hammer.

Just to make sure I understand, you're talking about this section, right?

mattmia2

Yes. Others may have further comment on that.

SlowYourRoll

mattmia2 said:

Yes. Others may have further comment on that.

Thanks! I appreciate it so much!

STEAM DOCTOR

The copper steam piping can always be replaced later on. Obviously more money but not a big deal. The Hartford loop is far from ideal. Worst case scenario it will bang around the boiler. No big deal. Might wake your ex up in the middle of the night. Also no big deal. What do you care?

STEAM DOCTOR

Who pays the gas bill? If it's the x so who cares if the copper causes more steam condensation? You could always insulate the copper if need be

SlowYourRoll

STEAM DOCTOR said:

Who pays the gas bill? If it's the x so who cares if the copper causes more steam condensation? You could always insulate the copper if need be

yeah i think that's my plan. as long as those ProPress fittings hold up, there really just isn't that much surface area in that 6ft(?) of copper pipe relative to the rest of the system to worry about. I'll revisit in a couple years when I live there again, but right now I think just insulate them

ChrisJ

I personally feel copper isn't an issue especially in areas where expansion isn't a big concern.

Mad Dog_2

Sir, with all due respect, if you had the top neuro-surgeon in the country living RIGHT in your own City, wouldn't it behoove you in the long run, to get on his wait list? You could not do any better than Frank and Gordo. Mad Dog

MaxMercy

Mad Dog_2 said:

Sir, with all due respect, if you had the top neuro-surgeon in the country living RIGHT in your own City, wouldn't it behoove you in the long run, to get on his wait list? You could not do any better than Frank and Gordo. Mad Dog

He's talking about what sounds like a partially deranged ex who's threatening his custody if not visitation if the boiler doesn't get installed yesterday. If I were OP, I'd get that thing up and running as long as it works well enough to heat the home.

He doesn't have the luxury of time.

SlowYourRoll

MaxMercy said:

Mad Dog_2 said:

Sir, with all due respect, if you had the top neuro-surgeon in the country living RIGHT in your own City, wouldn't it behoove you in the long run, to get on his wait list? You could not do any better than Frank and Gordo. Mad Dog

He's talking about what sounds like a partially deranged ex who's threatening his custody if not visitation if the boiler doesn't get installed yesterday. If I were OP, I'd get that thing up and running as long as it works well enough to heat the home.

He doesn't have the luxury of time.

Yes, it's a very unfortunate situation. I am madder than anybody that I couldn't get All Steamed Up to do this job, but they ARE the best and are consequently booked for months. A Baltimore City judge does not care if Frank and Gordon are the best.