I can think of no advantage in keeping the inefficient boiler or trying to repair the oversized pipes. A modern condensing gas boiler would be small enough to hang on a wall and vent directly to the outside. New baseboard heat would be far more comfortable than radiators and could have multiple thermostat zones further saving money.

Thank you but there's no natural gas here. My options are coal, oil, or wood. As this is a restoration, plus I love them, replacing the radiators themselves isn't an option, I'm really looking for how to repair the existent system.

Bruce, thank you. Yes, money is definitely a factor. We would like to replace in the future but right now we are in emergency-get-this-place-livable-for-winter mode.

The pump that is there on the back is the only pump that was there when it was working so I assume we are okay on that end. Which lines went where was our big concern and you've cleared that up, thank you. A couple follow ups, if you don't mind:

It is indeed a hydronic, not steam system, so I was thinking our worst case scenario with pressure is a flood, not an explosion, is that accurate? If the controls do malfunction, am I looking at losing heat in the house or burning it down? I'd like to know just how scared I should be, lol.

When you say "If the boiler controls will fire it up" do you mean that the thermostat should signal ignition from a cold state? I was thinking that being this old, it would need to be manually lit and the thermostat would only trigger the pump to push water through the system. I want to be sure I understand correctly, please forgive me if that's a really stupid question.

I am considering replacing the pump and thermostat, if I'm understanding, they would be the only electrical components. There is also a pressure gauge at the back top that I thought looked okay but to be safe, probably isn't expensive to replace.

Finally, on the top front, there is the contraption with a pressure relief valve (at least that's what I thought it was) as part of the 2 inch pipe fitting. I believe that this is supposed to be the supply since the heated water would be the higher pressure and therefore would require the expansion tank and be the correct place for the relief valve. If that's so, then the pump is correctly flowing in to the bottom of the boiler from the returns (I only just thought to check for an arrow and it was going the right way). Now, is this PRV something that works in conjunction with that gauge or is the gauge simply informative to me while the pressure relief valve is set to activate at a certain pressure? I ask because if they are interdependent these may also be things I want to replace.

Again, thank you so much for your knowledge, time, and patience.

old_home_lover:

Unless you've got a retired uncle who's a plumber looking for a project, any money you spend on rehabbing that hot mess is wasted. I love old houses and am the last to advocate for removal of historic fabric, but you need to get a quote for, dare I say it, a forced air system with air conditioning.

Thanks, but it never gets beyond the mid 80s here so we are going with an attic fan. I grew up with no AC in south Jersey where the heat index goes well over three digits. All of the rooms have six foot windows so there is plenty of air flow. Heating is our concern. Wish we had the uncle, but it's just us, :)

Forget the AC and stop kidding yourself. Any money you spend on the old system will probably have to be spent again possibly even in less than a year.

When I mentioned gas I was assuming propane. Modern gas fired boilers are very small, highly efficient and feed baseboard radiators through plastic tubing. I wouldn't be surprised if such a system costs less than repairing your old system and might even be cheaper to operate. It will certainly be more comfortable.

My advice is to contact a professional heating system installer before you get yourself into even worse trouble. Good luck.

And the person you paid to care for your house who trashed it and stole from you? Are you going to press charges?

"Are you going to press charges?"

The police don't feel there is enough evidence for a prosecution. After all, some random meth-head could have broken in and stolen 4,000 pounds worth of radiators, carefully draining the system to below the upstairs and capping the pipes up there so the downstairs heat would still work while he meticulously cut trenches in the walls with power tools to remove all of the wiring and copper, hauled this stuff away in god knows how many trips without our neighbors noticing a strange vehicle there, and mysteriously left the bedroom occupied by the caretaker as the only un-gutted room in the house.

Well I can see why the police would be baffled by a criminal mastermind like that. Now that you provide details, it's a complete mystery. Maybe the person taking care of your place was a very sound sleeper...

I understand a lot of people would agree with some here that a new system is preferable, but for those who are in my situation, as expressed, not able to drop 3000-4000 minimum on changing out the system, here is what we did:

The short runs from the cast iron to the boiler that used to be copper piping, we reconnected using pipe doped black iron fittings to 1 inch brass crimp fittings and 1 inch oxygen barrier pex.

We replaced the expansion tank, circulating pump, thermostat, aquastat, and pressure relief valve.

We filled and bled the system keeping it at 12 psi, ran the pump for awhile and bled again (not much at all not the second round), and fired up the furnace.

So far so good. No leaks, water's up to 90 and the rads are starting to warm evenly throughout the house.

Maybe we will wind up paying 4 gran for a new system down the line, but this weekend we spent less than 900 and we have heat.

I'm impressed...you've made the best of a bad situation and at a bargain price. Nice.

I'm glad it worked out for you. We have gone through several work-arounds to keep our gas boiler system working while renovating and upgrading the house, and it can be quite an adventure.

The sad part of the story is that it sounds like they stole most of the old cast iron radiators, and that may be expensive to replace. The guy who stole them probably only got scrap value, but you will be buying them at a much higher prices if you go to the restoration parts places. However, there is one place I know of in Hyattsville, Maryland called Community Forklift and they usually have quite a few old radiators on hand. Its a non-profit and their prices are very reasonable.

Bruce

Thanks, yes, we had originally hoped to find them as they are unique and quite ornate, but when we got deeper into the mess left behind I found rust piles in most of the upstairs rooms as well as several shards indicating he had smashed them. Idiot.

Luckily there is a place here locally that has many ornate ones on hand and they sell them pressure tested and guaranteed for one year though they are in need of exterior rehab. They are $12/fin and several sets are 3 column like what we have. Luckily, of the eight he stole, only 3 were plumbed in in the main house and 2 more were in the addition which we are leaving closed off this winter. So we will add three more and see how it does.

Since I couldn't readily see the pics on my work computer (too many sites blocked) I could see what you named the place & did some searching from there. NICE old place!

So sorry to hear what that dirtbag did....trashing the place like that. As if the old gal hadn't been through enough pain in her life.

Nice to know you have heat now, and the process can begin once again.

There's a special place in "Old House Heaven" for folks like you! :0)

ps...I joined your house FB page. Major Old House Lover here too!

As an update, we've had a few 37 degree nights here and even without replacing the 3 rads in the main house coal burning at a water temp of 160-165 has kept the house at 72. In fact, the upstairs is stifling probably due to the 20 fin 45 inch tall behemoth at the base of the main stairwell.

The one issue we still face is that the aquastat connected damper door at the rear base is broken off so there is no automatic heat regulation, but after several nights of playing with it I find that once I hit the temp I want, if I get about a 12 inch deep coal bed and close the door completely it maintains whatever temp it's at for a good 6 or 7 hours.

I've been staying 165 or below out of fear that it will start heating too fast and hit 212, turn the water to steam, and explode. Never having operated a furnace or burned coal I'm being very cautious.

We have definitely got "new boiler" on our to do list within the next couple of months, but for now it's working out very well!

Happy to hear you're staying warm! If anything...the heat is a must for the winter pipes! That's a whole 'nother headache there to contend with...

This might have been better in a new thread (I may post one as well) but thought here would be best where the backstory is already laid out.

The boiler works great other than the need to tend it every couple of hours even through the night. Part of this is probably the house being so drafty right now (no roof on half of it and no ceilings downstairs) but we always saw getting it going as a temporary measure and we are ready to upgrade to something a bit higher tech.

I found a key stoker K6 for sale for 1700 on CL. pics look great and seller says it was one his brother was going to resell in his store but had a pinhole in one of the steel plates. Supposedly the plate has been removed and a new one welded in and it's been pressure tested.

Question 1 is, is it reasonable for me to ask to see it pressure tested before buying or are there any other things I should look for? It's 2 and a half hours away and I really hate to risk getting something that doesn't work.

Question 2 is, can I add this to the loop and install some kind of bypass of the old boiler while keeping it in a position to use it if this new one fails? I worry about just tossing one that I know will provide the necessary heat as simply as "make fire, have heat" and relying solely on one that has moving parts that may fail at the worst of times with no warranty.