When to get a new boiler?

Jeanette

I have a 2 family twin house, oil fired steam heat. The boilers (2)had been neglected before we bought the property. The oil co. who services them now is telling me I need to replace them both because of scale on the outside of the heat exchanger, which they cleaned off. They are told me that it will not run much longer and will crack and leak. Yes, they said this last year as well, and they are running ok still. How do we decide when to replace them? Thanks for your help.

Plumbob

No one can predict when a boiler will fail. You can wait until it fails, and maybe it will last for years, and maybe it'll fail in the middle of the night and you'll be overcharged for an oversized, low-quality emergency replacement.

I am not saying you shouldn't take the risk, but you should understand the risk. One possibility is to use this early warning to shop around, learn about boilers, and identify exactly what you want and from whom. Then when it happens you'll know who to call and you'll have some idea of the fair price.

PS Apart from the risk of failure, your current scaly boiler is probably very inefficient.

Leo

More information

Hi Jeanette,

Can you tell us the brand of the boilers and the burners? Also approximately how old are the systems. We can't give an accurate diagnosis from here but ages can help us give you some guidance.

Leo