Weil McClain busted block

Ital · April 2019

Hi All, so my well mclain gold oil boiler has a cracked block and is leaking water. I have a hydro air system that is about 16 years old. My friend and service guy did some research and Weil McClain will give me $450 credit if I get another unit from them, but I decided I wont since I want something that will last longer. I came to the conclusion that I want a tri pass oil burner. Now my options are:
burnham MPO-IQ 147
Biasi b10-5
Utica tri pass

After a lot of research I am heavily leaning towards the Biasi with the Carlin ez 1 burner and outdoor reset

Now I trust my service friend he has been very good to me over the years and that is what he is suggesting as well since he has easy access to those parts, otherwise I would have probably wanted a riello burner.

I really liked the burnham but the same setup would be about $800 more. I am thinking the Biasi is the clear winner here.
I could not find much information about the Utica unit so I never took them in consideration.

Do you guys agree or do you guys suggest the burnham over biasi?

My house is about 3k sqft

Thanks!

Ital · April 2019

Here are pictures of my busted weil McClain do to crack in the seam

HVACNUT · April 2019

I would opt for the Biasi as well. But I'm not real familiar with the Burnham and never even laid eyes on the Utica.
Coordinating with your contractor on choice of system was smart. The pros here always say your contractor is just as, if not more important than brand (to a point). Familiarity and availability goes a long way at 3 a.m. in February.
Now the second pro test you failed, I think. How'd you guys come up with a 5 section on the Biasi? Was a heat loss calc done? 1.00 GPH input, Biasi's very conservative net of 108K and 3000 sq ft= 27.7 BTU per sq ft. That's an awful lot unless the home has paper walls. And with the hydro coil, it's not gonna absorb all the BTU's on its cycle anyway, unless it's way huge.
Download the Slant/Fin app for a free heat loss calculator. You'll be very surprised how little you need to heat the home.

Steamhead · April 2019

The Weil-McLain Ultra Oil is a 3-pass boiler:

https://www.weil-mclain.com/products/ultra-oil-boiler

Ital · April 2019

the Weil Mclain Ultra has bad reviews.
https://www.furnacecompare.com/boilers/weil-mclain/ultra.html

is the low water cut off something that comes standards with all boilers or is something I need to install?
I am thinking it is a must have, no?

EBEBRATT-Ed · April 2019

I think the Biasi is a good boiler. I would stay away from the Riello burner.

I agree about doing a heat loss and getting the correct size boiler. I would go with what your installer is confortable with

STEVEusaPA · April 2019

X2 on heat loss for sizing.

Ital · April 2019

Hi Guys I did a Heat Loss Calculation based on what I know about the house since I built it, and I am getting
Total Heat Loss for 60o F Temp. Diff. = 90,135.00
Total Heat Loss for 70o F Temp. Diff. = 106,359.30

The Biasi has the following rating
Btu Input
140,000 Btu
Btu Output
108,000 Btu

Should I use a smaller unit? What are the benefits?
on top of my head i am thinking the GPH would be less and I would save a ton of money... or is that a wrong assumption?

Ital · April 2019

The next step down would be the Biasi B10-4 which as the following rating
Btu Input
112,000 Btu
Btu Output
84,000 Btu

it seems the unit is the correct size.

I forgot to mention, that my house has a great room that is 20ft tall, so that is probably bringing my total sqft to a more realistic 3500sqft

Jamie Hall · April 2019

First comment -- it will be a long long time before I put much faith in internet posted reviews of pretty much anything. The folks who have had a bad experience -- whether it is the item or the installer or a poorly done application -- are pretty sure to post. The folks for whom everything is fine won't, or won't that often.

Talk to your local pros and installers as to their experiences instead.

On sizing -- I'm presuming this is hot water -- at the risk of pointing out the obvious, if your heat loss at 70 differential is 106K, and you want to be able to hold never mind recover to 70 differential, you're going to need a boiler which can deliver at least 106K. Simple arithmetic will show you that a boiler with 84K output will be able to maintain at most about a 55 degree differential.

Steamhead · April 2019

Ital said:
the Weil Mclain Ultra has bad reviews.
https://www.furnacecompare.com/boilers/weil-mclain/ultra.html

That's for the gas Ultra, which is a completely different animal.

Ital said:
is the low water cut off something that comes standards with all boilers or is something I need to install?
I am thinking it is a must have, no?

Some boilers come with a LWCO built into the control system. If not, you'll need to install one since Code requires one now.

Ital · April 2019

Thank you all for the replies, much appreciated.

I checked and the biasi does have the LWCO thanks!
For some reason my contractor said the Weil Mclain tri pass were discontinued. I also was having a hard time finding any on sale online so I figure it must be true.
Do you guys think the Weil Mclain Ultra is a good boiler better than the biasi?

EBEBRATT-Ed · April 2019

I would go with the Biasi

Ital · April 2019

Thanks I decided to got with the biasi b10-5 with lwrc and outdoor reset.
Thanks fo all the replies.

Weil McClain busted block

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