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Steam Boiler replacement

Dave0176
Dave0176 Member Posts: 1,177
edited February 2018 in Strictly Steam
Replaced a waaaay overdue boiler in Belleville NJ. Old boiler was a Sears Homart boiler relabeled Dunkirk installed in 1955. The Hartford loop was rotted so bad when I cut the two returns it fell out of the boiler. In went a relabeled Weil-McLain a Union Steam GSA 100,000, had to separate the main and remove the bullhead tee.






DL Mechanical LLC Heating, Cooling and Plumbing 732-266-5386
NJ Master HVACR Lic# 4630
Specializing in Steam Heating, Serving the residents of New Jersey
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/dl-mechanical-llc

https://m.facebook.com/DL-Mechanical-LLC-315309995326627/?ref=content_filter

I cannot force people to spend money, I can only suggest how to spend it wisely.......
New England SteamWorks

Comments

  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,042
    Dave, that just looks sooo good!
    They really got their goodie out of the old boiler.

    I have a question, not being critical, just curious.
    I see the main vents right on top of the drop ells for the dry returns. It seems there would not ever dare be any wet steam with the double drop header. Also the 2 90's before the drop ell seem like they would break up any water hammer headed their way? And being a pretty small boiler........are these factors that seem to make the vents are safe in that location?
  • Dave0176
    Dave0176 Member Posts: 1,177
    JUGHNE said:

    Dave, that just looks sooo good!
    They really got their goodie out of the old boiler.

    I have a question, not being critical, just curious.
    I see the main vents right on top of the drop ells for the dry returns. It seems there would not ever dare be any wet steam with the double drop header. Also the 2 90's before the drop ell seem like they would break up any water hammer headed their way? And being a pretty small boiler........are these factors that seem to make the vents are safe in that location?

    I ran out of 3/4 elbows lol so I’ll offset them when I go back to do the cleaning. I definitely doubt any water hammer would occur there, but I’ll offset anyway.
    DL Mechanical LLC Heating, Cooling and Plumbing 732-266-5386
    NJ Master HVACR Lic# 4630
    Specializing in Steam Heating, Serving the residents of New Jersey
    https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/dl-mechanical-llc

    https://m.facebook.com/DL-Mechanical-LLC-315309995326627/?ref=content_filter

    I cannot force people to spend money, I can only suggest how to spend it wisely.......
    JUGHNE
  • Mike Cascio
    Mike Cascio Member Posts: 143
    Nice Job Dave,

    What a difference. That system must vent so much better with those gorton #2s. What was the rating of the old beast?
    Dave0176
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,455
    Very nice @Dave0176 as always. Nice job!!

    I guess at 63 yrs the old Dunkirk held up pretty well.

    Actually, for a 1955 job they piped it pretty well, Hartford, return vents, header, equalizer, the only thing wrong was the bullhead tee.
    Dave0176Snowmelt
  • Snowmelt
    Snowmelt Member Posts: 1,405
    Nice".....
  • Beautiful work @Dave0176, as always. Everything perfect. Everything 1st class. I always appreciate a man who takes the time and effort to remove the bull-head tee. True sign of a pro.

    Unfortunately, those words have come back to bite me because I just ran into the mother of all bull-head tees. It's a 4" x 3-1/2" x 6" tee!

    What a mess to re-do! Ugh...
    New England SteamWorks
    Service, Installation, & Restoration of Steam Heating Systems
    newenglandsteamworks.com
    SeanBeans
  • MilanD
    MilanD Member Posts: 1,160
    Nice! And the beer seems to have gone down nicely too! :smiley:
    Dave0176
  • acl10
    acl10 Member Posts: 349
    I see you put the vents on top of the wet return is that correct?
    I also put a vent on top of my wet return and it helps.
  • acl10
    acl10 Member Posts: 349
    Also I am just interested when I would have to replace my boiler what would the ballpark cost of such a job be including the boiler?
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    We ddon't talk pricing here but it will not be cheap. The labor will be a lot more than the parts because there is a lot of work involved.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
    Dave0176
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,042
    acl10, those vents are on the top of a DRY return.
    A wet return would be below the boiler water line.
    The only wet returns shown are right at the boiler, they are always full of water. There would be no air in them to vent, only water. You have to get the air out before the wet return piping.
    FWIW
  • Dave0176
    Dave0176 Member Posts: 1,177
    edited February 2018
    acl10 said:

    Also I am just interested when I would have to replace my boiler what would the ballpark cost of such a job be including the boiler?

    @acl10 and anyone else as @BobC has stated we don't discuss pricing on the open forum, however everyone is more then welcome to call, text, email, or PM me and we'll discuss what your looking for, my contact info is always at the bottom of my posts.

    This job and basically most of our Steam replacements usually runs between 16-20 hrs with me and my father. This particular job we had the boiler fired up around 12 hrs which happened to be around 8:00 PM, however we needed to return the next day for final adjustments cleaning and cleaning the job site up, which added another 4 hrs.

    Thanks all for the kind words...........
    DL Mechanical LLC Heating, Cooling and Plumbing 732-266-5386
    NJ Master HVACR Lic# 4630
    Specializing in Steam Heating, Serving the residents of New Jersey
    https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/dl-mechanical-llc

    https://m.facebook.com/DL-Mechanical-LLC-315309995326627/?ref=content_filter

    I cannot force people to spend money, I can only suggest how to spend it wisely.......
  • Dave0176
    Dave0176 Member Posts: 1,177
    Forgot to add the HOs who happen to be around the 80 mark had a lot of the CI radiators removed 52 years ago and replaced with 1-1/4 slant fin steel baseboard, only three CI radiators remain, so I needed to make sure we have low steam velocity because I didn't want them baseboards to hammer, and after all is said and done they don't hammer and heat pretty evenly.
    DL Mechanical LLC Heating, Cooling and Plumbing 732-266-5386
    NJ Master HVACR Lic# 4630
    Specializing in Steam Heating, Serving the residents of New Jersey
    https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/dl-mechanical-llc

    https://m.facebook.com/DL-Mechanical-LLC-315309995326627/?ref=content_filter

    I cannot force people to spend money, I can only suggest how to spend it wisely.......
    New England SteamWorks
  • acl10
    acl10 Member Posts: 349
    TG I dont need my boiler replaced now. I was just wondering what the ball park figure is. Between labor and the boiler and pipes.
    If the dry return is on top I also put a vent up there and it helps.