"jtaylor" wrote in message
...
The one in the tenants place is getting really bad. The quote for a new
system from the pros was multiple kilodollars. There's an ad in the local
bargain hunter for one; I called, and a guy with a thick middle-eastern
(greek?) accent told me a _very_ nice price to "get it out of his garage".
Said it was pulled from his house working, drained, and put in the garage.
Was used about two years, or maybe that was it was pulled two years ago -
very thick accent.

This is an oil-fired hot-water furnace.

Now I'm a mechanical guy, and furnaces can't be all that complicated, but
I've never looked at one before. What should I be looking for and asking
questions about? For his price I'm won't be making a big mistake, but it
would be nice to know more than I do before I go over there.

Um, it's made of metal. That counts, eh?

If it's hot water, it's usually called a boiler. Furnace usually means a
system with no water, just a heat exchanger. Hard to tell you what to look
for. The better residential boilers are cast iron, with the sections
wrapping around the firebox (wet base) Cheaper ones are steel, but I don't
see too many of them anymore. Look for evidence of leaks, check the
condition of the refractory inside, ask why it was pulled. The burner is not
that expensive to replace or repair. What is so bad about your current
boiler and how can you tell if this will be an improvement?

Help please - might be buying a used oil furnace tomorrow...
 

The one in the tenants place is getting really bad. The quote for a new
system from the pros was multiple kilodollars. There's an ad in the local
bargain hunter for one; I called, and a guy with a thick middle-eastern
(greek?) accent told me a _very_ nice price to "get it out of his garage".
Said it was pulled from his house working, drained, and put in the garage.
Was used about two years, or maybe that was it was pulled two years ago -
very thick accent.

This is an oil-fired hot-water furnace.

Now I'm a mechanical guy, and furnaces can't be all that complicated, but
I've never looked at one before. What should I be looking for and asking
questions about? For his price I'm won't be making a big mistake, but it
would be nice to know more than I do before I go over there.

Um, it's made of metal. That counts, eh?

"ATP*" wrote in message
...

"jtaylor" wrote in message
...
The one in the tenants place is getting really bad. The quote for a new
system from the pros was multiple kilodollars. There's an ad in the
local
bargain hunter for one; I called, and a guy with a thick middle-eastern
(greek?) accent told me a _very_ nice price to "get it out of his
garage".
Said it was pulled from his house working, drained, and put in the
garage.
Was used about two years, or maybe that was it was pulled two years ago -
very thick accent.

This is an oil-fired hot-water furnace.

Now I'm a mechanical guy, and furnaces can't be all that complicated, but
I've never looked at one before. What should I be looking for and asking
questions about? For his price I'm won't be making a big mistake, but it
would be nice to know more than I do before I go over there.

Um, it's made of metal. That counts, eh?

If it's hot water, it's usually called a boiler. Furnace usually means a
system with no water, just a heat exchanger. Hard to tell you what to look
for. The better residential boilers are cast iron, with the sections
wrapping around the firebox (wet base) Cheaper ones are steel, but I don't
see too many of them anymore. Look for evidence of leaks, check the
condition of the refractory inside, ask why it was pulled. The burner is
not that expensive to replace or repair. What is so bad about your current
boiler and how can you tell if this will be an improvement?
Also, what is the boiler's capacity and how much capacity do you need?
Compare Gross to gross, net to net. You'll find it on the front label.

not to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but why replace a dead boiler
with another dead boiler. There was a reason it was removed. The
'boiler' itself is not that damn expensive. Are you going to bang
areound in the basement for a week converting this one in and then see
if it works?

Hell, go to home depot if you have to.

Is the old boiler leaking? If ot it may need a new gun, much cheaper
than a boiler.

Frankly, this is a skillset you need to learn on something other than
yout tenants boiler.

jtaylor wrote:
The one in the tenants place is getting really bad. The quote for a new
system from the pros was multiple kilodollars. There's an ad in the local
bargain hunter for one; I called, and a guy with a thick middle-eastern
(greek?) accent told me a _very_ nice price to "get it out of his garage".
Said it was pulled from his house working, drained, and put in the garage.
Was used about two years, or maybe that was it was pulled two years ago -
very thick accent.

This is an oil-fired hot-water furnace.

Now I'm a mechanical guy, and furnaces can't be all that complicated, but
I've never looked at one before. What should I be looking for and asking
questions about? For his price I'm won't be making a big mistake, but it
would be nice to know more than I do before I go over there.

Um, it's made of metal. That counts, eh?

"jtaylor" wrote in message
...

Now I'm a mechanical guy, and furnaces can't be all that complicated, but
I've never looked at one before. What should I be looking for and asking
questions about? For his price I'm won't be making a big mistake, but it
would be nice to know more than I do before I go over there.



I think your mistake is buying a used, unknown condition, boiler, from a
person you don't even know. I don't know if I would screw with it if it was
free!

If you are determined to go this way, at least pressure test it before going
through the trouble of the installation! You may find that it is cracked or
otherwise leaking for some reason. Plug all the holes, and fill it with
water and pressurize it to 25 PSI and see if it leaks.

Then if that passes be prepared to tear it apart to some extent, and clean
it, and rebuild the gun, replace the combustion chamber, nozzle, pump drive,
and electrodes. Then install it, and fire it up. now will be the final test.
Who knows what you may find. Possibly a bad ignition transformer, pump or
motor. You may be fortunate and there may be nothing wrong with it, which
leads me to the question, "Why was it removed?"

Good luck!
Greg