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October 31, 2007
Boiler RIP-Should I be suspicious?
We have (had) a very old boiler -- still had the place to put coal in, though it had been converted to gas. For years, we simply turned up the thermostat in the fall and it worked fine. This year, I decided to have a plumber get the boiler ready for heat season and generally checkt things out. He said it was fine and on Sunday, I turned on the heat for the first time. The basement flooded, the plumber returned and said our boiler had a crack and needed replacement. Could this possibly be a coincidence? The boiler has been shut off and we're attempting to get a new boiler installed. Any suggestions for vendors or brands? I obviously want to move quickly on this. Thanks.
Comments
I had Boro Fuel on Church Ave. install my new boiler, quick turn around. They now also service it every fall.
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 7:27 AM
This is going to sound crazy but if you have an old tank boiler and its empty, try dropping some oatmeal flakes in the tank. I can't imagine this works very often but Ive witnessed this done for a boiler crack during a huge snow storm. The plumber told the owner to do it to fix it for a pinch. The oatmeal sealed the crack and ended up giving the boiler another 10 years before it had to be replaced for good.
I wouldn't recommend doing this if there were any hope that you would repair this boiler..but if you are going to throw it out anyway, no harm in trying.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at November 1, 2007 9:52 AM
Steam boiler or hotwater?
If hotwater, NOW is the time to get an efficient modulating condensing boiler! Should save you quite a bit over the old one. Much better for the environment and you should be able to vent it up your chiumney with a stainless steel pipe. Look at Lochinvar Knight, Viessman vitodens, etc.
Even if you do not get one of these, PLEASE have your new boiler sized right. If hotwater, have them do a heat loss calculation, if steam, have them measure the square feet of radiatiion (the surface area of radiators and piping in your house). It does not make any sense to oversize. It's like driving a car on a truck motor. You spend most of your energy $ heating and cooling the boiler itslef and not the house.
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 10:40 AM
How did the plumber check your boiler without turning it on?
The crack could be a coincidence--it's very old. When ours cracked (it was also very old), our plumber, John Hlad, replaced it (gas) at warp speed. I would highly recommend him.
He also mentioned to me recently that boilers have gone up significantly in price in the past few years. He said our model, which was around $5500 installed two years ago, is now over $8k.
Posted by: tinarina at November 1, 2007 10:40 AM
Don't use oatmeal - use cream of wheat - much better holding power - lasted 15 years on our boiler vs. 10 years on oatmeal
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 1:46 PM
I HIGHLY recommend Victory Brothers. I needed to install a new boiler, called them on a Thursday, had a walkthrough and an estimate on Thursday night. The crew came to dismantle the old furnace (there since 1899 - I too still had an old coal setup converted to oil) on Tuesday. Brand new furnace and impeccable new ductwork by Wednesday. Their number is 718-526-4718. Ask for Ray Victory.
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 3:20 PM
To actually answer your question and not advertise a plumbing business, yes it happens sometimes that an old boiler will be sabotaged. It happened to a friend of mine. Avoid service contracts - that's when they sabotage the boiler because they know they're more likely to get the job of replacing it. In this circumstance, it was probably just a coincidence.
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 3:28 PM
the cream of wheat post is hilarious! thank you for the best laugh i've had in a while and i laugh often - that was great!
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 4:24 PM
if you could put in coal that baby is OLD!
time for a new boiler. skip the breakfast cereals.
Posted by: guest at November 1, 2007 6:33 PM
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