It's Been a long time.

Intplm.

I haven't installed a new steam boiler in a very long time. Seems I'm fixing something on an old steam system/boiler but not much replacement work.
This is one that was recently completed. We are very happy with the outcome.
Actually was able to skim the boiler over an entire weekend. A whole forty-eight hours.
Insulating the pipes is next.


Before and after pictures.
An apprentice said that the boiler sections look medieval. What do you think?

Mad Dog_2

Neato...Nice clean, sqaured away like a Good Navy man would do!  I have found we do mostly rehabs/repipes on Screwed up boilers.  We don't do the boiler a day pace we did for years.  There are two reasons:
1) We don't get the initial install because "You're much higher than so and so...and no one else is telling me I need to do all this!...but they've been in business since WW I...what could you possibly know? " So, they pay us later...its a vicious, unnecessary cycle...The real sharp guys like us who really care and know what they are doing are the ODD MAN OUT! The Outlier,  not in with the typical  Wolf pack.
2) Because we have decades of experience and knowledge, we became specialists, Surgeons if you will.  Less brute force day after day... up and down stairs with 400lb sections.  We make better $$ as Surgeons & Save further wear & tear on the body.

Medieval??  Absolutely 💯..... I comment all the time as we're moving these old and new huge slabs of Cast Iron all around up & down, muscling them in to place: "Boys...isn't it amazing after over 150 years, of tough men installing heat, our methods and materials haven't really   changed much ( with the exception of Mod Cons on HW systems)...When you are in Steam land, the old sections are superheavy & filthy to get out and the new steamers are clean but just as heavy...Sometimes we use an electric hand-truck, but We still old school, Neanderthal it.  No lost fingers, toes, digits...There's an Art & finesse - even doing this.  Mad Dog 🐕 

EBEBRATT-Ed

Looks good.

Intplm.

Was very telling when taking the sections apart. The sections were patched at the seams. Evidence of minor leaks throughout the thing. Years ago I added some boiler seal to help limp the thing along until this job could be done. Looking closely at the pictures. You can see why the old boiler failed/leaked at the very least from the near boiler piping installed incorrectly.

This was installed in the basement of a nineteen oh five late Victorian home. It is thought to be the third boiler in this house. The first was a coal-fired converted to oil. The old one was replaced by me pictured here. There is evidence of a coal shoot and coal storage room in the basement.

When doing these jobs I seem to always have a little bit of underlying concern as to how the new one will perform as opposed to the old boiler.

This boiler install/performance was probably the quietest ever. Not a single sound coming from the steam/condensate.

Mad Dog_2

Isn't it so much more gratifying installing? Mad Dog 🐕 

Intplm.

Mad Dog_2 said:

Isn't it so much more gratifying installing? Mad Dog 🐕 

It sure is.

mattmia2

If you do the rest right they shouldn't need a new boiler very often.

Intplm.

Mad Dog_2 said:

Isn't it so much more gratifying installing? Mad Dog 🐕 

It sure is.

mattmia2 said:

If you do the rest right they shouldn't need a new boiler very often.

@mattmia2 I agree. This replacement was yet another eye-opener for me. The way the header was installed on the old boiler! And how the seams on the sections had been leaking. It was all due to the near boiler piping being installed incorrectly.
I was sure to pipe the new boiler appropriately and as the Peerless boiler directions showed.
The new header is correct and should serve this home for a very long time.