$898 for boiler repair, heat in house: priceless

[fdcg27]

Started the boiler on Halloween. It was down below 60F in the house and colder weather was forecast for the next few days, so it was time. Started up just great and ran well for the couple of cycles we were in the house. We then went outside to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. It was quite cold with a stiff breeze and even some light snow. We went back in the house and the inside temperature was only about 62F and the boiler was not running. Went downstairs to look at it and it had cooled off below its temp limit and was not running. Tried emergency start 2X and that was not happening, so I turned off power to the boiler and told wife I'd call for service in the morning, as I did.
Tech came by Thursday morning and did some troubleshooting including trying a new flare on the oil line from the filter. He finally determined that the cause was probably a bad pump, so he ordered the assembly. Nearly $700.00, but at least his supplier had one in stock to ship.
Today, two other techs from the company came and changed out the pump and pump drive and the boiler then ran just fine again.
The house had gotten down to 52F overnight Thursday to Friday, so it does feel nice to have heat.
This is also a reminder of the importance of having cash in the checking account to deal with unanticipated troubles with the house, the car, the children or whatever.

 

[benjy]

my coal stove runs flawlessly BUT still to warm for it so i am using my oil furnace + it quit the other day, changed tank filter as well as the pump screen + cleaned the gun, no help but searching you tubes clued me on how to check the ignitor-transformer + sure enough no spark, $69.95 at local plumbing store + being the modern style smaller transistorized becket install was similar with minimal instructions BUT it would not fire!! BE sure to use the included hold down clips in the transformers front as any light seen by the photo cell wont let it fire!!!cost me a 5min $85 service call to learn that!! being only in the 50s overnight my delonghi oil filled radiator kept enough heat in the area i usually inhabit

 

[andrew_j]

Glad it got sorted. Yes having bare minimum $1000 emergency money makes life a lot easier and not stressful.

 

[fdcg27]

Glad it got sorted. Yes having bare minimum $1000 emergency money makes life a lot easier and not stressful.

My personal preference is to have at least a year of normal expenses stashed in near cash assets so that one will be well insulated from the unexpected things that will come our way.
This is not a hard goal for any two income family with even a basic control of their budget and should certainly be achieved by age forty or so.

 

[nate379]

Heat has been going for 2 months here. Currently 14* with a 40mph wind.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

My personal preference is to have at least a year of normal expenses stashed in near cash assets so that one will be well insulated from the unexpected things that will come our way.
This is not a hard goal for any two income family with even a basic control of their budget and should certainly be achieved by age forty or so.

Wife and I have done that for years. Soon as we both were working we built up a good size emergency account we can pull from anytime.

 

[SeaJay]

Had a natural gas powered boiler for an old school steam radiator heated house with electronics to feed the water when low. Did no maintenance for a few years. It crapped out and it took our contractor who knew just about every service provider in the city to find someone to fix it.

Our contractor recommended a service contract with a local HVAC company. They charged a fee to come out and maintain it each year at the start of the heatng season, but provided 24/7 emergency repairs on demand with our contract at regular prices. But they came when needed. Priceless.

 

[zzyzzx]

I haven't bothered lighting my pilot light yet. Still wearing shorts some of the time too. I think that's only happened once before in November though.

 

[Jmlo96]

I have a Weil McClain Boiler Series 3 in my house which is about 10 years old and has never been serviced. I wanted to get it serviced as per the owners manual, which involves buying a ~60 dollar kit from the vendor and cleaning the heat exchanger. Literally the steps are in the owners manual. When I called around to HVAC companies, no one even knew what I was talking about and the company who did wanted 450 dollars. I ended up just doing the service myself. I figure worst case I'll put a new heat exchanger in myself because the part is 700 dollars on supply house.

I don't know how people that aren't handy survive in today's world.

 

[Donald]

Started the boiler on Halloween. It was down below 60F in the house and colder weather was forecast for the next few days, so it was time. Started up just great and ran well for the couple of cycles we were in the house. We then went outside to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. It was quite cold with a stiff breeze and even some light snow. We went back in the house and the inside temperature was only about 62F and the boiler was not running. Went downstairs to look at it and it had cooled off below its temp limit and was not running. Tried emergency start 2X and that was not happening, so I turned off power to the boiler and told wife I'd call for service in the morning, as I did.
Tech came by Thursday morning and did some troubleshooting including trying a new flare on the oil line from the filter. He finally determined that the cause was probably a bad pump, so he ordered the assembly. Nearly $700.00, but at least his supplier had one in stock to ship.
Today, two other techs from the company came and changed out the pump and pump drive and the boiler then ran just fine again.
The house had gotten down to 52F overnight Thursday to Friday, so it does feel nice to have heat.
This is also a reminder of the importance of having cash in the checking account to deal with unanticipated troubles with the house, the car, the children or whatever.

So was this an oil pump or circulation pump. Seems too expensive for a cartridge circulation pump maybe for a large red B&G circulation pump? So probably the oil pump. Never had an oil pump go in 40 years of houses with oil boilers.

 

[Toy4x4]

Heat? My A/C just clicked off 30 seconds ago!

 

[fdcg27]

Oil pump.
The circulator pump is fairly cheap, easy to diagnose and not hard to replace although you will then be bleeding off convectors over the next few days.