New Boiler - Bite the Bullet or Wait?
We have a Weil-McLein that’s well beyond its service life, but still plugging along. I’m trying to decide whether to replace it this summer / fall, or try to make it another year or so. The upsides of doing it and waiting seem pretty clear. If we do it now, we reduce heating bills and…
We have a Weil-McLein that’s well beyond its service life, but still plugging along. I’m trying to decide whether to replace it this summer / fall, or try to make it another year or so. The upsides of doing it and waiting seem pretty clear. If we do it now, we reduce heating bills and risk of an expensive emergency installation; if we wait, we postpone a major expense. And the downside of doing it now is also clear – said major expense. I’m a little less clear on the potential downside of waiting – advice?
Yes, yes, and yes to all of the above.
Have you considered having its efficiency checked? My furnace is quite old, (not quite
elderly) so I had it evaluated. It was approx ?88% or so. I thought that was pretty bad
at the time and said so. The plumber that checked it over said that was fine and that there is no such efficiency rating as high 90s.
I have it serviced pre-season, change the filters often, and have hooked up a humidifier
to it (for comfort).
It’s still (so far) working well– I’ll see if it gets the ka-bosh this season or makes it through yet another yule tide…
I’ll follow the tinkerswagon on this one–
“There is no high efficiency steam boiler.”
Ouch..Maybe true. But ouch….
Murphy’s law, it will go at the worst possible time.
But I am in the same situation and have asked the boiler men to give me some indicators to see if we should change ours. with none of the joints between the sections leaking, we have been advised to hold off.
I’d also read an article written by someone at the US Dept of Energy suggesting that it is always best – from an economic standpoint – to squeeze every possible year out of a boiler and replace it when it has no life left in it. In other words, the savings from a new boiler may not justify changing a boiler that has several yrs left in it.
Steve
If you don’t plan to replace it, then purchase the National Grid service plan and they will come and clean it and it will cover repairs.
They are listed here, but I think I paid $159 or $179 last year for the plan. So maybe call and ask them for it?
http://ny.hsenergyservices.com/catalog/service-plans-c-1_10.html
Mine is 42 years old.
Every plumber who has looked at it says there is no reason it can’t go another 10 years since it’s been kept in amazing shape. (Knock wood).
There is no high efficiency steam boiler.
I’m in the same position as you with a 35-40 year old Weil McLain steam boiler that has some issues and I will be replacing it before the end of the summer. I have received varying estimates as to price and the proper size boiler, with only one plumber doing the calculations to determine the size. The others just looked at the present oversized unit and said to get the same. Estimates ranged from $5500 – $8500. With the high efficiency Burnham unit there’s a $500 National Grid rebate.
Most likely more to replace when it becomes an emergency call.
That said, I have a very old gas forced air furnace. It is very efficient….I spent less than $2.000 on gas last year and it has updated controls but I still worry.
Bite the bullet if you can afford it. If it breaks when you really need it, you will end up spending money to get it fixed and working again asap.