1933 Burnham Boiler - Questions and Potential Replacement

os2man4

I recently purchased a house that has quite a history. Original house was built in 1820, but redone in 1933. A newer section was constructed in the 80's. The older section (approximately 3800 sq feet is currently heated by a Series G-1 Number 2708 (Included pictures of the boiler and the data plate in this message). I've been attempting to find out more information on the unit without success. I found a post with a catalog https://www.heatinghelp.com/assets/documents/185.pdf

but I can't correlate what I see on the data plate with what is in the catalog. Can anyone assist me in finding information on the unit / understanding the spec sheet? I am seriously considering replacing it with a modern unit as my heating bill was quite large. I'd like to know more information about how it is currently sized to compare it with my notes for selecting / deciding about a replacement.

The system is a 1 pipe setup with two feeds and two returns, one for the back of the house and one for the front. The burner has a 2 GPH nozzle on it.

Some thoughts that I had that I would like to double check if my logic is sound

When the heat was running during the winter, standing in the boiler room, it must have been 100 degrees. Seems to me that if the boiler is outputting that much heat into the room, its heat that's not heating my house (while a basement shouldn't be freezing, I don't need it to be a sauna).

I am aware that the boiler and pipes are asbestos covered and that would need to be remediated for any replacement plan. I am also understanding that getting the old boiler out of the basement is going to be fun (but its something I have accounted for).

The boiler must have at least a hundred galloons of water its heating up before it can make steam, it seems as if the newer boilers have significantly less water capacity which means they spend less money heating water mass before they make steam.

My main purpose right now is to decrease my oil usage and increase the temperature that the house can be set to.

Did a radiator steam calculation and came up with 634 sq ft of steam. Seems like a Megasteam or a Peerless would be an appropriate replacement (Pasted the specs below). Does this seem logical. The boilers seems significantly smaller then what I have and I just want a sanity check on what I am selecting before I pull the trigger on a purchase.

Thank you very much,

Jim

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EdTheHeaterMan

You don't need to know anything about that old boiler to replace it with a new boiler.  You need to find out how much equivalent direct radiation is connected to that old burnham.  With that info, you can select the proper replacement  boiler

os2man4

Totally agree, my local HVAC Company who currently services my boiler helped me do a steam calc and came up with 634 sq feet, so that makes sense, but I would like to understand from a financial perspective how close what I have is. I have a feeling that its over sized, which would lend myself to replacing it being worth it. I would hate to spend a significant amount of time and money to wind up with a newer boiler and the same or close to it annual heating cost. That money and time might be better spent elsewhere (like maybe windows).

Steamhead

That Burnham 2708 is rated 1550 square feet. Double-check your radiation- also see if any rads have been removed over the years.

EBEBRATT-Ed

As @EdTheHeaterMan said there is no information about the old boiler that will be useful.

If you double check the load calculation (radiation) and its right that is the # to use.

The biggest question is how does the house heat? just trying to find out if you need any work on the system such as venting which can save fuel.

If the boiler works and is not leaking, you may want to do insulation and windows first.

mattmia2

the actual input and out put will be set by how the oil burner is set up. coal boilers typically weren't fired at their full capacity for a number of reasons. it looks like that is a multi pass boiler so if all the baffles are in place and the oil conversion was done well the efficiency might not be terrible.

EBEBRATT-Ed

The actual combustion efficiency is probably good but the seasonal efficency not so much as you are heating a lot of water up and have larger stand by losses.

EdTheHeaterMan

https://www.heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/how-to-replace-an-old-steam-heating-boiler/ . this is picture proof that you don't need the old boiler specifications. Uncanny about the picture in this article is SOOoooo close to the boiler in @os2man4's post

mattmia2

Is this one pipe or 2 pipe? You can undersize 2 pipe a far bit to get closer to the actual heat loss with a reasonably well functioning system. It can be done with 1 pipe as well but everything has to be perfect to not end up with parts that won't heat.

os2man4

@mattmia2 it is a 1 pipe system, and its split into the front and back of the house with two main steam lines splitting at the boiler and two returns that come back from the front and back and then join back up at the boiler

How close does it need to be?

I measured a requirement of 634, but the closest boilers between MegaSteam and Peerless are 629, 667, and 758

I was leaning towards the megasteam boiler, but it makes me round up to a higher btu output then the peerless, not sure if that means that the megasteam would just significantly higher or if it would just run for slightly shorter and heat up faster (which would make the additional btu a wash)

and what do you mean by perfect? or are you saying that there is more margin with a 2 pipe and a 1 pipe has to be sized correctly as an undersized system will no heat the end radiators

I am planning on insulating the steam lines and removing / improving the radiator covers but other then that I'm not sure what else I can change with the steam system itself to improve it

ethicalpaul

Always, always round down

mattmia2

the number on the boiler has an extra 30% "pickup factor" subtracted from it. normal systems don't have that much pickup factor so you'd be bettoer off rounding down.

what i mean by perfect is if the balance isn't perfect or you have some small amount of condensate pooling or some of the piping is wrong and you don't make enough steam to fill all of the radiators, you might fil some before some heat very much but that combination is consuming all the steam the boiler produces so the unbalanced radiators may never heat. with 2 pipe you can fix that by closing the radiator valve some on the radiators that are the first to heat.

that being said, i wouldn't worry about it until your connected edr is over 30% more than the boiler rating plate.

os2man4

Ok, so it seems like an MST 629 with 629 square feet of steam to fill 634 would work (my math says it would be 898 square feet without the pickup factor)

Does anyone have any recommendations between the peerless and the megasteam? The megasteam seemed to be a newer design which is why I was leaning towards it, but that opinion isn't really informed by very much.

Also if I have an third story that is finished, but I am currently using as more of an attic. Could I turn off some of the radiators in that space to gain some cost back? I don't want to heat that space to the same degree so I was hoping I could shut off one or two of the radiators. No idea if that would accomplish anything. If I am reading how a 1 pipe system works shutting off radiators would lower the total volume of steam and should decrease the time the boiler is on (even if only by a little).

Thanks for all the help

JacquesD

Just write down the radiators:

STyler, height, tubes, and sections. So people can verify your radiation.

EBEBRATT-Ed

The Megasteam is supposed to be the better boiler. I have no experience with it but I dislike anything with the Burnham name.

Steamhead

If that were my house, I'd go with the MegaSteam.

dabrakeman

If it were my house I would go with Steamhead.😄

Do be 100% sure of your EDR calculations. If you have any doubt send example photos and measurements of some of your radiators. I would still personally account for the radiators up on the third floor unless they are being physically removed. You may or the next owner may come up with some other uses for that space. I'd just put some slow vents on them.