Before and after

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Latest install. The before is taken with the boiler already disconnected. The upper right draw rod holder was snapped off. The new boiler is 62K btu input gas fired. The old was 140 kbtu oil fired.

jimmythegreek · February 2011

nicey nicey

beautiful install on that. textbook job. Im sure that homeowner is gonna love the savings they're gonna get from a properly installed and sized unit. Gas is so much nicer to work with on steam......

crash2009 · February 2011

Draw rod

What do you think caused the draw rod holder to snap?

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Years of being set

at 4-6 psi. Or the fact the flue collector hood was leaking on it for who knows how long. It was the casting tab that actually broke. The old boiler was a Utica and it used one piece draw rods that went through only the front and rear section. The hold downs for the collector hood were cam like devices that went under the draw rod. One of these was right next to the broken casting and was tightened as far as it could be then covered in fire cement.

crash2009 · February 2011

They sure can take a lot of abuse huh

How did the customer find out something was wrong? Any sounds or smells?

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

They were using a lot of oil

the leak had appeared where the tankless coil was. They did not know how bad things were until I started removing the old boiler. I never even knew they were this bad as it was presented more as a proactive change out. It really was an emergency change out if I had looked under the jacket.

clammy · February 2011

nie pipe job

Hello Charlie ,very nice pipe job especially the use of both risers and the fact that you insulated the near boiler piping.What was the old boiler a utica or weil and was it a wet base from the photo it lookes like a older weil 66 or 68 series not my favorite hated the small tappings and tight flue pass was always a PIA to brush down when cleaning.Again nice job i would gather that now those rads and mains are finally seeing some dry and hot steam some thing i would gather they have never seen with the last boiler .Keep up the great work it's always nice to see a properly piped steam where some thought went into it before hand rather then afetr the fact .Peace and good luck clammy

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Its nice to do an install

Instead of a repipe for a change. Thanks for the compliments. The old boiler was a Utica as far as the tags from the service company say. The boiler tag can not be read. This is the insides of the old boiler. It never saw a brush I am betting. Flare stick and run service from what I saw.

crash2009 · February 2011

How often

should they be brushed?

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

every year for oil boilers

that is why I do not do many cleanings for customers. The oil company uses a burn stick, flare, what ever you want to call it. The boiler needs opened and brushed every year. Nozzles are suppose to be changed every year also. The pin boilers react worse and faster to not being brushed than the multi pass boilers but all need brush every year.

crash2009 · February 2011

I suppose the annual brushing

(if it had ever had one) would have alerted the customer sooner, giving them more warning, of the impending failure. How often should the new boiler be brushed?

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Gas boiler should be checked but seldom need brushing

If they do something has gone wrong. Checked every year for every boiler. This also is a good time to check for water usage and to make sure the returns are clear.

SquareRuth · February 2011

From the horse's mouth

We had been advised by our oil supplier, during the annual tune-up in fall 2009, that we should replace the burner, as it was obsolete and parts would no longer be available if they were to fail. So we put it on our endless list of needed maintenance and repairs. The next fall, 2010, the same tech came to the house for the tune-up and repeated his warning. I started researching options, and we decided then to go ahead and replace the boiler. But even at that point, we had no idea whether the boiler itself was bad or not. The oil supplier technician didn't seem concerned about the boiler, only the burner.

Then the boiler sprang a leak in December. The repair call was answered by a supervisory tech. He started to look a little panicky, running to his truck for the tin ships because he couldn't unscrew the jacket, muttering "this might turn into an emergency re-install" as he snipped away like an army field surgeon. He managed to stop the leak by pouring bottles of Boiler Weld in there, warning us it was a temporary fix, and then betting a 95% confidence that it would get us through this heating season. At that point -- we knew we were on the right track to replace the boiler!

From then on, we lived with much higher oil consumption (about 30% higher) and the lovely stench of Boiler Weld throughout the house over Christmas, while I ran down quotes and read _We Got Steam Heat,_ and tried to decide whether it was really necessary to go into debt in order to contract someone who knew what he was doing with steam. Finally, we decided to go with the investment (largely due to my reading of _We Got Steam Heat_ and on this Wall, and partly because we value technical expertise highly). I was sweating the whole time, hoping the old boiler wouldn't fail us before we could sort things out. Some of the radiators, which had always leaked some steam at the valves, had started gurgling, and during the coldest days, we were getting cut off for low water if we did not add water every 24 hours.

So...that is how the customer found out something was wrong!

--The Customer

crash2009 · February 2011

That experience

does not sound like much fun SquareRuth. I hope you are not angry that I am trying to gain some knowledge from the misfortune you have experienced. I am glad you found the right man for the job, even though the cards were stacked against you. How are things now?

Steamhead · February 2011

Charlie, that is indeed a Utica

an OU-400 to be exact, since it has four sections. Which burner did it have?

SquareRuth · February 2011

Oh Goodness No!

Not angry at all!

Things are very different now -- everything is so quiet, and the heat is more even. Neither the radiators nor the boiler make any discernible noise. The amount of attention the system demanded has been cut from constant worry to almost nothing. We don't have the data yet comparing energy usage/cost -- it better be a lot different! (although, we also turned the thermostat up, now that we're not leaking heat out the chimney -- we are more comfortable).

crash2009 · February 2011

Glad its working good for you

I've been doing the do-it-yourself thing for 2 years now. You-know, little change here and a little change there. You got to do it all at once, so you will see a big difference. I would like to get Charlie over to my place, but I heard he won't leave Massachusetts unless it involves 25lb Northern Pike.

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Actually Frank

I never even looked to see what the burner was. It was the original though. The long pigtail with the coil spring support. The burner control was mounted on the jacket not the burner, I will find out when the snow melts and I can get the old boiler out the basement. The new one went in through the house but I do not want to take the old one out through the house. There is a walk out basement door but it has 3-4 feet of snow blocking the way.

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Crash I do travel

the only ones in my family that catch big fish are my sons. I spend much of my time pulling hooks and lures out of their fish or the bushes.

Steamhead · February 2011

I'd be interested to know

many of the OUs I see still have Wayne MH burners. These take hollow nozzles, but I usually find solids in them, and lots of soot as a result.

SquareRuth · February 2011

The burner is a Wayne Model MH

-- I just saw your and Charles' posts and we went down to check. You will have to wait for Charles to tell you what kind of nozzle it had on it, though. Reading a label is one thing, but figuring out what the nozzle is -- that's why I contracted a pro!

Steamhead · February 2011

Thanks

no, you don't have to look at the nozzle. That would require opening up the burner.

Charlie from wmass · February 2011

Frank I have a nozzle in my tool bag

That was on the floor by boiler as I was cleaning up. I will check it tomorrow.

Before and after

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