Weil mclain pilot/ ignitor assembly

jc2lite1

I have a weil mclain EG-50-PI series 2 steam boiler installed in 1998. The pilot light would not light. Wire was bad. I purchased a new assembly and the pilot fires tight up but no burners. Contacted Weil mclain and they tell me it will not work with the old gas assembly and I need to purchase a conversion kit for over $700. My question is, is there a way to hook up the thermocouple wire to the old version to make it work? TIA.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Need pictures and model #s of what you have

Steamhead

That's probably the old White-Rodgers system that used the mercury flame sensor. The end of the sensor looks like a thermocouple but it's not. We typically upgrade these with Honeywell Y8610U kits, and yes, they are not cheap, but are fixable using standard parts.