Steam Heat; therm usage up 3x from previous 3 winters, cost $752 to heat 1 br apartment

leahc34 · January 16

I have been living in the same apartment for 4 winters and I have been using 100-120 therms (paying $250-320) during winter months to heat my apartment. The month of December my gas bill has gone up to 300 therms ($752) with no change in set temp (66F), occupancy, appliances, etc.

I checked on my heating system and it appears leaky and has very rusty water. Someone finally came out to look at it and he said no maintenance has been done in years but the heater is working perfectly fine. The water is “supposed to be” heavily rusted. The leaks are “not causing any problems.” He said my radiators are too large for my apartment, which is why they do not heat up fully from left to right, but this shouldn’t cause inefficiency. My heat clicks on frequently and there is loud banging and the sound of loud water running, this seems louder to me than previous years. I have attached pictures of my heating system.

I took to Reddit and they suggested to check the chimney for excess steam release and posted a pic of this as well, there does seem to be steam releasing from the chimney.

Can anyone confirm this all sounds normal? Any advice on what to check or what could be wrong? My landlord, naturally, is being incredibly unresponsive and unhelpful. It doesn’t make sense to pay this much for a 1br apartment (maybe 750 square feet).

ethicalpaul · January 16

Seems like likely hole in boiler. Nothing else can really explain the increase in therms. Sure looks like a lot of moisture coming out the chimney (some moisture of course is in the normal combustion gases but that looks like a lot to me).

The sure fire way to tell is to overfill the boiler with water so that it's up to the risers or to the header at the maximum then see if water falls into the boiler and runs out the bottom. Any competent steam contractor will know this.

Jamie Hall · January 16

I agree with @ethicalpaul — sure looks like a leaky boiler. And there's only one cure for that — a new one.

The guy who said that leaks aren't causing any problems isn't paying for them…

ethicalpaul · January 16

Very true. He was also wrong about the rusty water…it is not mandatory although it is very common and by itself is not harmful but can be a sign of trouble.

If your whole system is leaky (vents and valves typically), then you will have to add fresh water more often which is what rots holes in your boiler. Especially that Burnham model you have…based on its appearance, I would say you got a decent lifetime out of it. Don't replace it with the same model, get a Peerless, Utica, or Weil-McLain instead.

patrykrebisz · January 16

A small hole in the boiler is not that expensive in terms of fuel.
(It takes 1 gallon of oil (i know you have gas) to evaporate 10 gallons of water.)

The problem is that the hole will only get bigger and sooner or later the boiler will have to be replaced.
Based on the smoke, you have a large hole in your boiler.

JUGHNE · January 16

Can you compare your exhaust to a neighboring chimney ?

If you flood the boiler as recommended above, it should be not be hot. Let it cool down a little.

mattmia2 · January 16

you could also turn off the water feed and see if the level in the sight glass drops as it runs a few cycles over a couple hours. mark the level in the sight glass with the boiler off, then check it after a cycle or 2 then another cycle or 2. if it hasn't dropped a noticeable amount leave it off for a day or 2 and see where the level is, if it is still the same. If it has dropped a noticeable amount in half a day or a day or 2 you have a big leak probably in the heat exchanger above the water line.

bburd · January 16

You should test the low water cutoff and be certain it shuts off the burner on low water level before turning off the automatic feeder as a test.

mattmia2 · January 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1882593#Comment_1882593

or just watch it the first couple cycles until you see how it is behaving.

leahc34 · January 16

thank you everyone, I compared this to my neighbors system who uses the same chimney and there was 0 steam coming out for about an hour. Within 2 minutes of turning mine back on there was steam. I have called the plumbing company again to request a new person, but again, this is being paid for by my landlord while the gas bill is not. I appreciate everyone’s help!!

ethicalpaul · January 17

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1882593#Comment_1882593

if the LWCO isn’t working today then neither is the auto feeder so this test seems unnecessary

pedmec · January 17

Just flood the boiler. If you have a hole you will find it that way. It's a Burnham Independence series boiler. Guaranteed to have a hole above the water line.

Steam Heat; therm usage up 3x from previous 3 winters, cost $752 to heat 1 br apartment

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