Old Buderas Boiler

[Drywall]

Hope this post conforms to the Forum category! Recently purchased a 1900 brick home with a twenty-year-old G-124 Buderas natural gas boiler, using PEX tubing leading to baseboards. It has a 3 or 4-inch exhaust pipe through the basement wall, and I believe it has an assisted vent system. It has functioned well this past winter, but will:
1. need a cleaning and general check-up this summer.
2. Will need a replacement 1 1/2" iron supply manifold (see attached photo: pipe has exterior rust, probably from a leaking pressure valve).
Any advice on these jobs? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[peakbagger]

I can only make general observations. I believe that is a cast iron boiler with a sheet metal enclosure around it. Given the state of rust on the inlet manifold I would guess at best a 50% chance that it will not break loose at the boiler. It may do fine but frequently the piping is so far gone that it will snap at the threads and then you need to fish the remains of the pipe out of the boiler casting and possibly have to chase the threads in the boiler with a pipe tap. Draining the boiler and possibly removing the casing, then heating the joint with a torch and letting it cool, then applying penetrant and tapping the joint, repeat a couple of times over a course of days and it might unscrew. If you do get it out, make sure you have a good grade of thread sealant to reseal the new threads as rarely do the originla thread in the casting make it out unharmed. Rectorseal is good sealant. I used the Trublue version.

 

[Drywall]

I can only make general observations. I believe that is a cast iron boiler with a sheet metal enclosure around it. Given the state of rust on the inlet manifold I would guess at best a 50% chance that it will not break loose at the boiler. It may do fine but frequently the piping is so far gone that it will snap at the threads and then you need to fish the remains of the pipe out of the boiler casting and possibly have to chase the threads in the boiler with a pipe tap. Draining the boiler and possibly removing the casing, then heating the joint with a torch and letting it cool, then applying penetrant and tapping the joint, repeat a couple of times over a course of days and it might unscrew. If you do get it out, make sure you have a good grade of thread sealant to reseal the new threads as rarely do the originla thread in the casting make it out unharmed. Rectorseal is good sealant. I used the Trublue version.

Thanks for your reply. I will first scrape the surface of the pipe to see the extent of the rust. A standard pipe wrench might crush the weakened pipe, so I will first try some sort of strap wrench to distribute the grip evenly. If the pipe shears and leaves the threaded end of pipe in the boiler, I’ll have to look for some sort of oversized bolt extractor!

 

[Drywall]

Thanks for your reply. I will first scrape the surface of the pipe to see the extent of the rust. A standard pipe wrench might crush the weakened pipe, so I will first try some sort of strap wrench to distribute the grip evenly. If the pipe shears and leaves the threaded end of pipe in the boiler, I’ll have to look for some sort of oversized bolt extractor!

 

[Drywall]

Here is a postscript for my previous post for an older Buderas gas boiler. I was not able to locate a "B-Kit" (which includes the pipes I was looking for), so I decided to clean up the pipes and paint them with Hi Temp POR-15 paint. I have a question about the size of scale fragments that popped off the pipes (about 1/4 inch thich in places) Photos are before and after brushing, and an image of the scale pieces which fell off. Are the iron pipes compromised by losing so much dimension? Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this!

 

[Jackfre]

That is an excellent boiler and in MA there are a lot of excellent Buderus techs. You should have a pro evaluate the unit and make whatever repairs alterations are necessary to get you thought the heating season and extend the life of the boiler. Spend some for peace of mind and I can tell you that you do not want to loose the boiler mid-season. I had the 224 Buderus in my MA house and it was and is outstanding.