A year and a half ago, we were hit by a tornado, followed by heavy rain. With no power, our basement flooded. This fall, when I went to fire up the boiler it wouldn't. Looking closer, the flood water had finally taken it's toll on the 18 year old boiler. The bottom had rusted out.
Backing up, when we bought the house it had the boiler on the right in the photo. Years later we added on to the house and added the second unit to handle the addition. A few years after that the original boiler died. I tied the whole heating system to the new boiler and but for the very coldest days it worked well that way. We have an efficient, sealed door fireplace that can pretty much heat the house on it's own, so the two together worked o.k.
But, since we now had to replace the newer boiler, I decided to up the BTU's (an extra 25,000). I added extra baseboard to handle the extra BTU's. The last few days have been bitter cold and the extra boiler size worked great.
Unfortunately the flood water had the same affect on the hot water heater. It wasn't leaking yet, but the metal exterior was rusting away to the point it was starting to lean to one side.
So, I took out everything. I bricked up all but 1 opening in the brick chimney, gave it a coat of vinyl patch concrete and re-leveled the concrete pad they sit on. Set bricks in the new concrete and leveled them, so the boiler, water heater & humidifier would have air space under them to keep them drier. Put a new liner in the brick chimney. Then installed a new hot water heater and boiler. Replaced the regulator valve & blow back valve. Replaced a zone valve that was shot. Replaced all the bleeder valves as they were getting a little nasty.
Also, installed a new dehumidifier to keep things dry.
I boxed in the copper water lines running in the crawl space and insulated the floor joists. The ceramic tile in the foyer used to be freezing cold, but now is nice and warm.
I bought new programmable thermostats for each zone valve that need to be installed yet, then it's done. Those extra BTU's have really made a difference. Hadn't planned on this project, but now that it's done, I'm glad I was forced into replacing it.
Guess this may be in the wrong section as it's more about HVAC than a water heater? If it needs to be moved, please do. Thanks.
Backing up, when we bought the house it had the boiler on the right in the photo. Years later we added on to the house and added the second unit to handle the addition. A few years after that the original boiler died. I tied the whole heating system to the new boiler and but for the very coldest days it worked well that way. We have an efficient, sealed door fireplace that can pretty much heat the house on it's own, so the two together worked o.k.
But, since we now had to replace the newer boiler, I decided to up the BTU's (an extra 25,000). I added extra baseboard to handle the extra BTU's. The last few days have been bitter cold and the extra boiler size worked great.
Unfortunately the flood water had the same affect on the hot water heater. It wasn't leaking yet, but the metal exterior was rusting away to the point it was starting to lean to one side.
So, I took out everything. I bricked up all but 1 opening in the brick chimney, gave it a coat of vinyl patch concrete and re-leveled the concrete pad they sit on. Set bricks in the new concrete and leveled them, so the boiler, water heater & humidifier would have air space under them to keep them drier. Put a new liner in the brick chimney. Then installed a new hot water heater and boiler. Replaced the regulator valve & blow back valve. Replaced a zone valve that was shot. Replaced all the bleeder valves as they were getting a little nasty.
Also, installed a new dehumidifier to keep things dry.
I boxed in the copper water lines running in the crawl space and insulated the floor joists. The ceramic tile in the foyer used to be freezing cold, but now is nice and warm.
I bought new programmable thermostats for each zone valve that need to be installed yet, then it's done. Those extra BTU's have really made a difference. Hadn't planned on this project, but now that it's done, I'm glad I was forced into replacing it.
Guess this may be in the wrong section as it's more about HVAC than a water heater? If it needs to be moved, please do. Thanks.
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