Posted by biezpiens on January 16, 2000 at 11:21:29:
About 11 years ago, our local plumber installed a Weil-McLane gas boiler for our single pipe steam system. It never worked very well, but we blamed it on our 50 year old radiators which were noisy and leaky. Frequent replacing of the valves did not help. During cold weather, water needed to be added about every day.
A new plumber now tells us the boiler needs to be repiped since it has no Hartford loop. Since it has been run at 5psi to get any steam upstairs, it is probably clogged.
Considering his price of $1500 and the fact that the boiler has probably been abused and that there are more efficient boilers today, is it worthwhile to add the loop or get a new boiler instead?