Boiler Info-(I'll try again...)

Ann_2

Okay, let me try again. Thanks for letting me know that it did not attach the first time.

Information on the boiler that supplys hydronic heat to 8 plex:

(Hot water boiler)

American Standard, Heating Plumbing, Water tube:
Boiler label plate: No: W-1029, 13 B,
Without Baffles: Water-3570
Hand Fired: 15702-52W

Appears to be sectional cast iron boiler. Appears to have 7 sections between the front and back plate.
The water tubes are vertical, fire flows horizontal through 3 pass from gas nozzle to exhaust out the back of boiler.
Was originally oil fired but has been converted to natural gas roughly 15 years ago. (very clean on the inside)
Expansion tank is located in attic above boiler so not readly visible.
Inlet and outlet of boiler appears to be 2" or 2-1/2"
Height of boiler is about 5 ft, width 4 ft and length about 7 ft.
Horizontal exhaust with damper out back of boiler that feeds into a brick chimney. (no power vent/auto close damper.)

1.) Any guess as to BTU of this boiler?

Potable hot water is heated by gas water heater in another room. (Original Heat exchanger abandoned.)

Boiler piping has a new main circ pump. Taco.
Relief valve looks good and pressure reducer on boiler feed is holding at 12 psi cold.
Piping in boiler room is not insulated and leaves boiler room under ground. (all pipes exposed look in excellent condition.)
Boiler room is un-attached to 8-plex in laundry/boiler room.
Boiler appears to be coated with insulation, assuming asbestos.
Backflow preventer is dripping, will have serviced.
No visible leaks on boiler tubes when sitting cold. Did not fire unit at this time. Not being used at this time as only for heat.
Front service doors swing open for view of vertical water tubes, no leaks noted, although it appears by streaks out
front doors that water had dripped out before.

O.K. Those are the basics. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with unit from basic visual inspection. Just old.
I did not get a chance to fire boiler and listen so not sure if sediment/calcium build up (Popping sound) would be there, may be just fine inside tubes?


Boiler was inspected by State inspector (Washington state) in 1989, (yellow sticker attached to boiler) but no other stickers before or after that?


Boiler man said it probably time for a new boiler....not sure if he was making a statement or if it is truly time to replace?

2.) Replacement question: Would this be a good application for a Multiple-boiler system using primary/secondary pumping?

3.) Should I go High-Tech (condensing) or just use cast iron...and what might be a right size (200K ?, 300K) 2 or 3 boilers? (one site said I need about 236K BTUs for 5360 sf. Sound right?)

3.) Current boiler has asbestos covering it. I have plenty of room on other side of wall for setting smaller boilers and abandoning old boiler in place as not to mess with cost of removing existing boiler/asbestos at this time, or is this not a big expense??? (supply and return lines can be easily routed to other side of wall)

4.) Last one....what might be a general cost of setting, piping, running power and gas to 2 new smaller package boilers...rough estimate I know.?

Your input is greatly appreciated.

S Davis

Boiler

It sounds like the boiler might be ok, but until you fire it you will not know. If there are signs of water it could have a leak that shows up when the boiler is hot.
It probably is not very efficient compared to newer boilers so it would save on heating costs to change it.
Where are you located in Washington?
I am located in Mount Vernon WA. If I can be of assistance please contact me.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

116 E. Highland Ave
Mount Vernon WA 98273

Office 360-336-1924

Cell 360-239-4585

Weezbo

Anne, This isnt really Year 2000 type technology...

there are much more efficent boilers on the market these days...put an ad in the newspaper Good functional boiler for large Green house 150$ takes it away! who knows you might get Lucky. then you will have lots of space and your new boiler room will hang in there look good and save countless dollars in the next couple decades. and you could up grade distribution a bit a little bit here and there if it needs it and insullation in the Lid of the apartments to around r-42 would hold down some of the escaping btus too:) Oh Lag and lead boilers or rotational control..... costs are to variant to give numbers over the telephone you will need to get the insullator and boiler guy There to do that...have a happy

lchmb

JMHO

If the boiler is wrapped with asbestos it would probably be in your best interest to have it properly and professionally removed and disposed of. Although it is never cheap to have this done it is by far the safest thing to do. After removal you can then have a company come in and install as high tech a boiler as you would like with no fears...JMHO

Steamhead

American-Standard Water-Tube Boiler #1029W

According to the Hydronic Rating Handbook, this boiler was rated 2830 square feet EDR on a hot-water system, or about 424,000 BTU per hour available at the radiators. This boiler was designed using the same basic principle as the famous Mills boiler that was made by H.B. Smith Co, and I believe it was the top of the American-Standard boiler product line of its day.

We have two of these boilers out there- one from 1922 or so on a gravity system and another from the 1940s using forced circulation. They seem to respond much more quickly to a call for heat than the typical boiler of that era. I'm sure a new boiler would be more efficient, but not sure by how much.

In order to know whether your boiler is properly sized or not, we would need to know how much radiation is in the building and what the building's heat loss is. I'm willing to bet your Water-Tube is oversized- most likely this was done to obtain a bigger fire pot so they wouldn't have to shovel coal so often. If the gas burner was set up to the boiler's maximum capacity and the building's heat loss is quite a bit less, it could probably be down-fired to some degree- but not so low as to cause condensation in the chimney!

That said, you'll probably have to replace the Water-Tube at some point. This will be a BIG job, and of course the asbestos must be removed first by a licensed contractor. Such enhancements as retuning the gas burner if appropriate, installing an outdoor-reset system if you haven't already, etc. will help you save for the replacement job.

When you replace the Water-Tube, using a staged multiple-boiler setup is probably the best way to go. Not only will this method match the heat input to the outdoor temperature, but if one boiler fails you can switch to the other one(s).

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