condition of this boiler opinions

Unknown

at one time to gas ? Replacing the old boiler to a new one is definitely going to save you money on gas . An upgrade on that old Federal I would guess will save you at least over 20 percent , more than likely thats a low estimate . We have used Peerless , Burnham and Weil Mclain in the past on gas steam , all work very well .

jim_14

Interested in anybody's opinions on this boiler. 50+years and still running strong. Some techs have walked in and said it should be replaced just by looking at it ,others have said nothing over the years. Spent a few bucks in maintenance in past 5 years, mainly ignitor replaced and flareup problems fixed. Local gas company had completely bypassed the LWCO and screwed up the electrical wiring, but had that fixed later on.

In my humble opinion, just because its OLD doesnt mean it should be thrown out the door. Seen alot of OLD boilers in Manhattan buildings that are still running, my guess is that they have always been maintained properly...

So whats the vote? Stay or Go?

Floyd

Replace the sucker.....

and go to Vegas with the money you save......

at least you'll get to have some FUN with it!!!!

jim_14

Seriously, what would I save in annual heating costs with a new unit versus this sucker? Im one pipe steam, gas fired, small house with about 7 rads, also have a hot water heating system (circulator pump) tapped off of this boiler for the basement. Any boiler recommendations? I was thinking Home Depot.. JUST KIDDING!!

Floyd

Actually...

that is VERY hard to judge without sitting down and doing a heat loss and looking over the whole system.
Also would need to know what area of the country your in..... also is the old one safe.....
maybe you should upgrade simply for those reasons.
There are many many variables and so therefore it would be foolish to give #'s
But all that being said, you should at least see some savings and sleep much easier
knowing that you have a good boiler there instead of a 50 year old piece that could go kaput at any time!!!!

Floyd

jim_14

Any brand recommendations? Or what I should stay away from? Im in the Northeast, NYC

jim f

burnahm

t would recomend burnahm. have extremly good luck wih them in the past 10 yrs. i would put one in my house!

Frank_17

replace?

A lot of service techs won't say anything about upgrades because his oil company is selling you lots and lots of oil.If you upgrade, company's volume goes down.I have my own company and don't sell oil. I can be honest to the HO, I'll tell you if it's 75% or 85% eff. If it's old and in the 80% area, great. if it's on the verge of collapse, It's cheaper to do it now than at 2:00 am. It's also easier on the HO if they know in advance. " Your boiler is still running , But plan on a new one in the next year or so". That gives them time to save for it.
I've had to replace neglected boilers a week before X-mas before. the HO wasn't prepared to dish out thousands of dollars at that time of year.
Plan ahead, save yourself a headache, you'll have to replace it someday, the week before X-mas or at your choosing.

tim from Reed Wright

I work on many 50+ year old boilers, I would have a tough time telling you that efficiency would be the reason to change a gas steam boiler. Safety and integrity of the boiler would be my #1 and 2 reasons. I would hydrotest the boiler and see if its solid, then I would clean low waters, clean pig tails and tappings for pressuretrols. Flush out boiler. Clean gas side of system. Put some treatment in It and start cooking if all checks out. ps while you have it open, have a vessel or boiler inspector look at the mud leg areas and man and hand ways for pitting.

jim_14

I wold like to do some of the above, like hydrotest,etc but Im not sure if I can do it or have the tools/patience to do it. I do it flush it out every start of season, and drain out a little from the LWCO about once a month until it runs clear.

jim_14

Well actually, Im a gas customer, so the techs Ive had arent shooting from that angle. The only ones that have walked in and said right off the bat "wow, you should replace that" have been the local gas co.(which werent so great with boiler repairs) and one or two techs from a overpriced ,but in my opinion not so great HVAC company (they once charged my neighbor $800 to replace a hot water heater, the same one that could be bought for $250 at HD or Sears (AO smith I believe) that you could get a real plumber/heat tech to do at a market labor rate and still come out alot less that $800!!! That was downright stealing, and she had a service contract!

My current HVAC co ,who didnt throw that you should replace it line before they even looked at what was wrong, was the most honest. He told me since I had already had about $500 worth of work done to it already, the he would have recommended replacing it before that, but since it was money already spent, it would be OK for now.

Back to the issue, about how much should I budget for a replacement boiler? Im talking about gettting it done from a heating co. that knows their stuff ,not jonny contractor.