New Boiler?

jkon · Nov 2, 2015

Thanks all for your help. After my boiler guy replaced my expansion tank he said I should probably start thinking about replacing my boiler. I have a Weil McLain tankless hot water boiler and it is 25 years old. I asked him why and he said that rust starts to kill them. He also said worse case scenario would be for one of the chambers to split causing water to flow and keep flowing until water feed supply was shut off. He said that 90% of the time however I would get a warning like water on the basement floor from a leak. My boiler guy is a good guy and has treated me very fairly for the past 20 years. I definitely trust him. He said a similar system installed would be around $5000. If I wanted a system with an indirect heating of my hot water he said that would add about another $1000.

What do you all think? I definitely do not want to come home one day with a flooded basement. How long do these boilers last? Is it time? Thanks!

frodo · Nov 2, 2015

25 years old. you got your money out of it,

johnjh2o · Nov 2, 2015

Long before the cast iron sections fail the push nipples that connect the sections will. At any rate a new boiler will be much more efficient then the old one.

steventheplumber · Nov 3, 2015

With a 25 year difference in boilers you're looking at a massive jump in efficiency. Boilers produced in the early 90's mostly had efficiency rating of 60-70%. The new boilers being produced today are mostly in the 90 percentile. You will be saving money in the long run without a doubt.

jkon · Nov 4, 2015

You are right....after 25 years I have got my $$ worth. Our present system is oil fired hot water with a tankless. Since it's just my wife and I living in our house, we are going to stay with a tankless system. My guy is going to install an entire new system, new valves, pipe, circulator, etc. He suggested a New Yorker Model: CL3-105. I did some research and although there are no reviews that I can find, it seems to be a pretty good cast iron boiler. He said he wouldn't recommend anything but a cast iron. All installed he wants $4500. He at first did mention a Peerless but he said they keep raising their prices and would cost more. Is $4500 installed a pretty good price? Thanks.