Smith Boilers

Justin Gavin

Anyone have anything to say good or bad about Smith Residential. Especially gas boilers. Also how is the company towards warranties and such. Any info would be great to hear.

Thanks,

Justin

kevin coppinger_4

I use Smith a lot...

I know the rep around here in NH personally There product line is pretty good and as far as warranty stuff the rep(Chris O.) is right there to work it out. For the money there series 8 oil is a great value one of the best american boilers out there, bar none....kpc

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Unknown

Hey Kevin

Is Bob H. still the rep?

Say hi for me if he is!!

Noel

Robert O'Connor_6

Noel would that

be Bob Harkins? If so i saw him yesterday and he told me he is retiring.

Now there is a rep that knows his product!!


Regards,
Robert O'Connor

ME

kevin coppinger_4

The rep. I know.....

Is Chris Oulette...he does the residential side...I o't have a lot of call for commercial boilers...kpc

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Dave_12

SMITH BOILERS

WE HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH SMITH CAST IRON BOILERS, BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL. IN MY JUDGMENT, SMITH IS THE BEST CAST IRON LINE IN AMERICA. THE GB100 IS A RUGGED, PROVEN GAS FIRED HOT WATER BOILER AVAILABLE FROM 50 MBH TO 275 MBH INPUT.

REGARDING WARRANTY, MOST MANUFACTURERS ARE FAIRLY BRUTAL ON WARRANTY. ON THE OTHER HAND, SMITH IS PERHAPS TOO EASY. THIS IS HARD ON SMITH, BUT GREAT FOR THE CONTRACTOR AND CUSTOMER. MOST WARRANTY IS DUE TO DAMAGE IN TRANSPORTATION, IMPROPER INSTALLATION, OR IMPROPER OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE. SMITH MUST KNOW THIS, BUT THEY STILL TRY TO WARRANT PROBLEMS. THIS KEEPS CUSTOMERS.

GOOD LUCK.

Unknown

That would be him.

He told me he was retiring in 1999. Good for him! I'm glad he's still at it.

What a comfortable guy to work with. Say hi for me, and from Bob Flanagan, too. I work with him, now.

Noel

Ken_8

Wow. I couldn't say

one nice thing about Smith.

We have two residentials in our area and both are probelmatic to a fault. The 28 series commercial units have put more money in our pockets than all other boiler sectional cracks combined, and we found factory support virtually non-existent. We have a water company with a 28 front section that exploded into the thankfully unoccupied mechanical room that was 13 months old. The factory claimed no obligation to even see what happened.

We have a 6-year old Mills boiler at the Coast Guard that has two intermediate sections leaking.

We have a residential water job with gas trim problems that almost blew up the homeowner.

Sorry.

We are not impressed with Smith

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Justin Gavin

Couple of questions

that boiler that almost blew up was it the new style Lexington?

Also I looked at your job on heating professionals and you said that you used copper for the underfloor heat in a staple up type application. How did you do it? I was curious how it would work performance wise, noise wise.

Thanks,

Justin

Ken_8

Justin,

I wouldn't know a Lexington 28 from a sweet potato Justin. This explosion occurred about 11 years ago when the boiler was 13 months old. Rumors abounded about an ugly strike at the foundry and a lot of sabotage by disgruntled employees. I found the rumors without merit, but Smith's silence and failure to even want to see the carnage was all I needed to develop my opinion of them.

Regarding the copper staple up, we wanted to maximize conductance to the sub floor and did not want to use droopy plastic or rubber. We also calculated the heat loss to require a surface temp on those coldest of days to get a 100-105 degree surface temp. Because of the thickness of the sub floor, top sheathing , mud and tiles atop that, coupled with a huge heat loss at a french door windowwall, we would have to run water temps at very high levels to offset the load. PEX would not have survived 160+ water temps. The thermal conductive transfer rate of copper is roughly 1,000 times that of PEX. We thought it a no brainer.

The cost of copper was comparable to PEX. The manifold and branch circuits and controls are much cheaper for copper - and simple commodities - not "proprietary" types that tubing makers use - then "upgrade" making whatever it is you need to repair later - obsolete. Labor was a bit more for the copper install, but you sort of get what you pay for.

Noise? Copper is much less "active" than synthetics. Ran 180 degree through the copper at times to get 105 surface temps on bitter cold days (5 below 0) Never heard a peep out of anything!



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John Mills_3

Our only Smith job

Only problem has been a failed thermocouple.