Federal boiler past it's prime

Unknown

By far , the most common original boiler we see in Nassau County . This was in a civic association where we offer a contract that covers a replacement if the boiler is condemned . Could be why we see them in this shape when they're replaced .

Of course , to get to the boiler room we had to go through a laundry / bathroom , squeeze the boiler through a 23 inch doorway on tile floor , and through 2 finished rooms with new carpets . Fun times .

I often hear that the major oil companies love to have these collosal fossils in every home they deliver oil to . Couldn't be farther from the truth . Count the extra breakdowns and man hours to service anything on this system and it's a wash compared to new equipment .

Unknown

This is what these boilers drop out

Me and Kenny took an extra heavy dose of vermiculite and soot . There goes another month of our lives .

Unknown

Burnham RSA125 and Riello

The homeowners are offered an upgrade to cast iron for a nominal fee . Most go for the steel .

We also moved the aquabooster farther back and repiped it so there'd be access to the fluepipe in the future .

lchmb

You know

You sir do some excellent work!! It took me a minute to figure out what the second pic was...incredible difference... Now I'll have to do another install to keep up..:(

Darin Cook_3

Hey Ron

How often do you guys use the Burnham LE? It is a nice little steel boiler. But it must be piped primary/secondary. It is also a nice lite boiler to carry in. What is your preference on burners? I prefer the Riello. I have a Riello repair kit that I have not used in three years since I bought it. My experiance is that as long as you have good air elimination, steel will last long into the twenty year range. Keep up the good work.





Darin

Ted Robinson

I owned one of these 1960 fuel hogs. The stack temperature usually ran 800 to 900 degrees. There wasn't very much heat transfer surface.

todd s

nice job Ron

Once again a great install. Have you guys had any problem with the Taco lwco? We had a couple that gave us callbacks due to the water sensitivity dial. We're using Mcdonnel Miller rb122 now, so far they've been good. I do prefer the size of the taco unit though.

Jay_11

What part is cast iron?

Why is cast iron better?

Dave Bush

Cast iron.

They're referring to the "heat exchanger" part of the boiler.

Some say cast iron is better than steel, in boilers. I find, personally, that the difference in quality is in the installation, and application.


This particualr job is professionally done to say the least.

kevin coppinger_4

Ron as ...

usual you folk do top notch work. Do you have a respirator to protect yourself from that vermiculite? I hope so...$40.00 well spent...we need guys like you to hang around as long as possible! Did that job have the high voltage t-stats? kpc

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David_16

Ron and anyone

else. I have one of those Federal boilers with the coil for hot water and a Texaco burner. I'm replacing it with an 85% boiler next week. What's your best guys as to percentage of oil I'll save?

Thanks!

Dale

Really nice work

You should ask your boss to cost out having someone else do the tearout, seems a waste to have the max skills team doing something someone on work release could do. I think I remember Alan Levi had a helper position for the removal. A lesser installer (like myself) needs to see the old connections to make sure how to connect the new but I imagine you have seen enough of these to not need that. Really beautiful work, a shame to hide it in that basement.

Constantin

... the one benefit of vermiculite?

... besides shortening your life, could the vermiculite help clean up any previous fuel spills down there? Beautiful replacement, BTW!

Unknown

Yes , vermiculite is a great absorbent

Sort of like chunky oil dry . Thanks Constantin .

Unknown

Haven't used the LE yet

Does it have a provision for a coil ? I prefer the Riello also . I've put my own Riello pump through some real hard times with the crappy used oil I was able to get years ago , and she's still going strong . Thanks alot Darin .

Unknown

We've had a handful

of callbacks on the Taco also . I think we're switching to Hydolevel in the near future . Thanks alot Todd .

Unknown

This particular install was steel

We offer a cast iron boiler upgrade , but the customer chose not to go for it . I also believe cast iron is a more sturdy boiler , heats up faster and holds the heat longer than it's steel counterpart . Thank you Dave .

Unknown

Yeah , we have respirators

but they are real hard to breathe through when working . We also have the farticle masks , which do almost nothing to protect the lungs . I gotta find a resource for an inexpensive powered respirator .

This job had 2 low voltage zones , and that's a rarity over here . Thank you very much Kevin . I want to hang around for a while too , preferrably not connected to an iron lung .

Unknown

The average

for a 50 year old boiler to new equipment is 25% , give or take . That info comes from a very reliable source - our service manager .

Unknown

That's funny

Never thought of having a work release gang do our rip outs , I gotta pass that one along the chain . We do most of our installs in one day . Trying to coordinate a crew to be there to remove it before we get there would become complicated . But I love the idea .

Just like you , I would need to see the connections and the wiring beforehand . We do see alot of these homes , but it's a crapshoot to guess which pipe is supply , which is return , what thermostat went with what zone . Did I ever mention the 6 zone boiler we replaced and I tied knots in the wires to correspond with it's zone ? And my helper unknotted each wire later on in the day ? I was ready to kill someone .

I appreciate the comments Dale , thank you .

Unknown

Better yet , Lchmb

Move down here and take some of the load . There's such a huge concentration of homes on Long Island that there more work than people to do it .

That 2nd pic was a doozy . I remember one last year where we had a boiler just like this and the homeowner had carpet right up to the boiler jacket . Another free replacement , when we were done he asked us in a dead serious manner -who will be back to clean the carpet around the boiler ? !!!
Gotta love it . Thanks alot Lchmb .

Unknown

Did you replace it ?

What kind of fuel saving did you have , if you replaced it ?

lchmb

ummmm

Let's see, move to Long Island....Hmmm traffic, people (lot's of people) and let's see..OH MY GOD the traffic...no thank's..I'll stay up hea where my neighbor is 2 mile's down the road population of 400 in my little town!!