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Ideal boiler company / triangle tube

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oreo123
oreo123 Member Posts: 75
edited July 22 in Gas Heating

We have three wall hung Ideal combis that are 4-5 years old in 3 different apartments. Plus a floor one that is 1.5 years old. I know that parts will be getting difficult to get.

I decided that when they start failing I want something that will fit in the same length and width. While I am tempted to get a cast iron and stainless indirect as a replacement due to limited space I hope to get something smaller sized.

When the day comes that its time to get them replaced I am leaning towards American made. Thinking burnham or weil mcclain. Combi unit. My question is which one has more spare parts available and a tech support line that is answered?

Also think that we need a support group for those of us with these existing boilers

Thanks

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,902

    i don't think any of the boilers are american made, i think the american brands are buying european or asian parts and putting their name on them. lochinvar, viessman, htp are a few. the one the installer knows is more important than the brand except for a few problematic brands.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 20,825

    Your boilers are fairly new I wouldn't give up on them yet. I am sure someone will pick up the parts business

    GGross
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 2,544

    I've been swapping out quite a few TT boilers with the Burnham Alta. Burnham/ US Boiler is an American company but I don't know for sure where each part is actually made. The few times I've needed tech support, I got it and it's second to none. One of those instances was a brand new unit with a programming error that would die when it fell below 25% fire and the tech support guy not only stayed with me for 2 hours after closing on a Friday evening to assure we got it going, he gave me his personal cell phone number if things went weird over the weekend. I did have one yesterday where the condensate hose fell out of the trap and it was a heck of a task to get it back in, but overall I've been very impressed with the Alta especially at their price point.

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 28,075

    I doubt there is any boiler 100% American build with made in America parts. Even cast boilers have controls or gas valves built around the world or with imported components.

    I thought Utica/ Dunkirk was building their own mod con heat exchanger, that helix design for awhile. Looks like they have a firetube design now?

    Lochinvar does some of the manufacturing in Tennessee. I’ve seen all the jacketing made there and they weld stainless indirects. They have a large oven for glass lining huge commercial tanks.

    The higher priced mod cons have different heat exchangers than the price point models.

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,902

    some of the viessman stuff uses HXs of their own design, if they build them in germany, africa, or china I'm not sure.

  • psb75
    psb75 Member Posts: 1,158

    Of course if anyone takes up making replacement parts for TT/Ideal…they will be foreign. I believe Ideal is/was a British "concern" itself. Speaking of "concern", I have a fair bit of TT/Ideal equipment installed out in the field. Rinnai boilers are a good substitute company. Their tech support has been great for my needs. Lochinvar is good too. i hope Viessmann stays "top notch"…after having been acquired by Carrier.

  • GGross
    GGross Member Posts: 2,035

    I can't help with a support group. but if you want to feel better about your 4 installed boilers that are 1-5 years old and making you money in rentals just keep in mind I have 135 new in box boilers and indirects that have no warranty and thus are basically unsellable.

    PC7060
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 20,825

    Carrier will probably ruin Viessman. Probably take a while. Carrier like all the others used to make really good equipment in the old days.

    As far as I am concerned, their residential and light commercial stuff is the leader in the race to the bottom, better off with a no name brand. There Roof top units were like tin foil when I was doing them 10 years ago. Not a fan.

    Chillers and the heavy equipment is a little better.

    Same with York. York was top of the line as well in the old says. Now they are owned by JCI there stuff is awful.

    These companies are too big, too much volume and don't care about quality in the least.

    Better off with Goodman, Ruud or something else.

  • oreo123
    oreo123 Member Posts: 75
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1900720#Comment_1900720

    Parts are one issue. Another issue is if one goes down there is no tech support. One would think that a former employee would do tech support for a fee (hint).

    I have had good luck with Burnham tech support. Have 5 revolutions, plus 2 of the 2000 series. Going to look at the size of the Alta. Trying to stay away from adding the stainless indirect due to limited basement space. Do not want to drill through sill again as it was 10 inches of oak - house is pre 1900 vintage

    Still have some old parts for laars endurance.

  • oreo123
    oreo123 Member Posts: 75
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1900781#Comment_1900781

    the boilers you mentioned are triangle tube. Does anyone know if its all same inside as an Ideal? Is it just different covers?

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