Estimated life expectancy?

Long Beach Ed

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847438#Comment_1847438

There's little question that the MegaSteam is superbly designed. But Burnham has definitely had some real metallurgy and casting issues that have resulted in massive, rapid failure of many of their boilers. While their graphitic corrosion problems have definitely been addressed, metallurgy problems haven't even been publicly mentioned. Some customers remain sour on how this was handled and question if it even was.

I've always liked Burnham's products and have specified many, many of them. I've installed them in my own buildings. To my knowledge, none that I specified or installed have failed.

danmayer175

So I flooded the boiler today. The active leaks are all at the tankless heater. Through one of the bolt holes and all around the gasket. No leaks at the section joints.

AdmiralYoda

@danmayer175 That is great news! Though a fix might not be easy, it is certainly better than a leaking section joint.

Those bolts are probably frozen and will likely snap taking them out…but it can be fixed. I'd say your boiler is still on the back end of its life so it would be wise to plan for the future, but there is a possibility of fixing it now to keep it going.

Keep in mind though, Murphy's Law. About two weeks after you fix the tankless heater section, the boiler sections will probably start leaking!

ChrisJ

A 30 year old V7…….

I'd get it out of there when it's convenient. I wouldn't try to repair anything on it.

ethicalpaul

And consider a heat pump water heater to ditch that tankless coil and all its troubles and let your boiler rest during the summer

ChrisJ

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847652#Comment_1847652

Just had to start with your heat pump WH baloney didn't ya.

😉

Long Beach Ed

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847652#Comment_1847652

Great advice if someone wants a lifetime of added expense.

ethicalpaul

So you've had one, Ed? Because mine has already paid for itself in 5 years.

But I get your point because we never have people come to this forum with hot water coil and indirect problems…

ethicalpaul

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847653#Comment_1847653

Hey I see a problem (leaking hot water coil, as they all seem to do / heating up a massive boiler in the summer) and I offer a solution, what can I tell ya?

danmayer175

When we moved in it had already been redone as a preheat loop going into the electric water heater. It probably saved some electricity in winter months but not worth the extra effort.

Long Beach Ed

Sure Paul. Who taught you to talk that way to people you never met?

ethicalpaul

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847732#Comment_1847732

I’m not sure what you mean? You said my solution would cause problems and I asked if you’ve had one that gave you problems.

I like and respect you

Steamhead

I'm going to take a look at this in a few weeks.

BobC

When I bought this palace on '81 I had a Delco DB4 4 section boiler with HW coil in it. First thing I did in the spring was to have a 30 gal gas tHW ank put in. That uses 4-5 CCF a month. I never looked into a "better" solution because I would not live long enough to make it worth my while

WilliamGwiazdowski

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1847652#Comment_1847652

Sorry to open up this thread again but I currently have a 27-year-old Burnham V73 steamer and this summer I'm going to be abandoning my domestic hot water coil and installing a heat pump water heater as well. Performance is quite poor and I always hear from the woman of the house to turn up the heat so she can have hot water to melt her skin off in the shower lol. House used to have a tank type water heater installed next to where the boiler lives so installation should be easy day for Dad and I

ethicalpaul

Be sure to check out if your utility or state offers any incentives for it, and if she really likes hot long showers be sure to get a good sized one like 80 gallons and crank up the temp on it.

Try it first in "heat pump only" mode, that is by far the most efficient, but if she wants even more hot water there should be other modes that will let you trade $$ for more hot water with resistive heating.

WilliamGwiazdowski

My local utility offers a $500 rebate. They will either give it to you as a check or a credit on your utility account. I'm going to take the credit on the utility account. Average utility bill here is only about $135 a month. I do not have any city water city gas or city sewer so I only use electric from the city. Going to go with a 50 gallon tank and keep the temperature at 120°. I'm going to run it in energy saver mode. Going with a Rheem Pofessional Prestige ProTerra model. Not going to get it from Home Depot I'll get it from the local FW Webb.