Heat Exchanger vs Full Replacement

please edit to remove prices. we cant' discuss prices here although you could describe the relative costs. i'd just replace the hx if they are going to do it right and the current system works well.

maybe it is a burnham.

It "Could" be a lot of things.

post pics of the piping I'd wager folks here can come up with a laundry list of install issues

Pardon my ignorance but isn't the "heat exchanger" basically the whole cast iron part of the boiler, which is to say, the whole boiler?

How could you replace the "heat exchanger" for less than 1/3 the cost of a boiler? I must be missing something.

I'd be more concerned with proper piping techniques than if it's copper instead of black pipe. The bit I see in the pics the boiler is piped wrong, and maybe even the wrong pipe size. That style boiler is very sensitive to proper piping. Now if they put a new one in and pipe it properly, they better use black pipe for the steam side at least.

I'm with Paul, I don't see how they replace the heat exchanger that much cheaper than the whole boiler considering they have to get into the same piping for either job.

improper piping can pull the sections of the boiler apart, that may be what happened here but the pictures are way too close to see how it is piped. it is like those close up object puzzles.