BoilersRUs

Firstly YOU know nothing about boilers and if you did you would have appreciated our efforts!

Paul was sent there late, yes he was because in these Covid times with limited crew and workers calling in with a cough we do not want people coming to work that MIGHT have Covid. This was at a time when the COVID positivity rate shot up around 23% and was coming down. We take no chances here and if Ashley wanted a sick person to do service at her house she is more crazy than I thought! She states that she has a baby in the house also! Sick people coming to do service????? Really????

By the way, I never spoke to Ashley even though she posted the negative review. I only spoke to her husband Alex.

Alex stated to Paul that he had another company come 3 weeks prior and they were there for 15 minutes and did a tune-up! REALLY??? 15 minutes? WOW! He must of had SUPERMAN there or something because even the best HVAC technician would have a difficult time changing a filter, nozzle, and pump screen in less than 30 minutes! And they put the incorrect nozzle in there anyway!! They had installed a .55-60°A nozzle when it called for a .80-60°A which is probably the reason the boiler was clogged up so badly. It is an industry trick to UNDER-FIRE THE BOILER so as not to do a FULL SERVICE TUNE-UP which includes brushing and vacuuming!

Upon Paul's arrival we found out that it was a BIASI BOILER and not before! For those who are not in the HVAC trade this is one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult, boilers to do a full service tune-up on with brushing and vacuuming as it must be totally opened up to do the job correctly. LOOK IT UP on the internet if in doubt as this heat exchanger must be meticulously brushed as it has small holes and passages that even seasoned technicians have difficulty finding to brush out. It is a complex triple-pass boiler that has a rear exit flue pipe and a casting that has literally hundreds of 'nibs' that must be cleaned with brushes of different diameters to do it correctly and tiny vertical passages that are almost impossible to see and must be cleaned by bending the end 3" of the brush to get inside.

This boiler presented with positive pressure, much more than it should have even though it is a positive combustion pressure boiler. This indicates a clogged heat exchanger. If you open the viewing port and fire or exhaust comes shooting out there is a condition that is not permitting the flue gases to exit properly out of the flue pipe (smokepipe). This condition is usually caused by lack of maintenance or a prolonged condition of improper combustion, or both. The boiler exhibited severe combustion chamber pressure upon firing indicating a clogged heat exchanger possibly due to the incorrect nozzle being installed by the other company 3 weeks prior who didn't tackle this job properly. This now becomes a bigger job than planned.

BTW---why didn't they call back the company that did the 'tune-up' 3 weeks prior???!!!

I guess Alex & Ashley thought that THEY did a magnificent job and left them alone. NOT!

I instructed Paul over the phone to install a smaller nozzle that specification indicated to TRY to at least get it running for the weekend and get heat going but NOT to 'poke holes' through the clogged parts like some companies do just to get it running. He installed a .50GPH instead of a .80GPH as specifications dictated to try to accomplish this. It would not stay running even after changing the pump screen and filter. There was another was to get it running temporarily which involves a 'trick' by poking holes through the soot in the heat exchanger which some companies do but is not safe unless the unit is monitored overnight because it can cause a puff-back or excess CO to enter the house as it is a positive pressure boiler. We did NOT want to do this at all especially on a BIASI boiler.

Doing the job correctly involves taking the entire burner, burner plate, exhaust flue, and other parts off the boiler and spending some serious time brushing by hand all the nibs and passages that this boiler has. A truly clogged BIASI boiler may take one person 4-6 hours from start to finish to to the entire job including changing the nozzle, filter, pump screen and brushing and vacuuming, dis-assembly and re-assembly. We were not booked for that type of job on a weekend at all!

We did what we could and advised Alex (the man there) that we would be back either Sunday (if possible) or Monday. He wasn't too happy about it but we did what we could on a weekend.

Alex got another company Sunday to get them running. OBVIOUSLY they didn't do the entire job either since they only charged them $300, which is what they would have paid us in addition to the $200 we charged for the initial service call, that would be $500 TOTAL for a JOB DONE CORRECTLY and with a 6-MONTH WARRANTY!

OH WELL! They WILL be calling another company soon!

Do you have a warranty now? NO!

GOOD LUCK!

All boiler leak issues are addressed uniquely. Every leak is unique. When we address a minor leak we tell the customer that it MAY WORK or that it MAY NOT WORK. It is a gamble. Usually if only a pinhole it will work for a couple of years but it is not a 'forever fix'. We tell this to every customer.

If it works it is a HOME RUN! If the leak gets to be less, well it may buy you some time but it usually means that the boiler needs to be replaced.

There is no way a 'stop-leak treatment would make the leak bigger. That just makes no sense unless it was getting progressively worse anyway.

Had Drew called us back when it did not stop his leak adequately we would have installed a new boiler if he wanted and made a partial adjustment on the price.

I cannot say that I remember this job specifically as we have had hundreds of jobs since this post.

We are a very experienced company doing complete service, installs, repairs, maintenance, and complete rebuilds of boilers for over 37 years. If the leak didn't stop with the additives then it was not repairable with leak-stop and the customer was so advised of the possibility before the job as is our standard practice.

Honesty is the best policy and only about 75% of the leak-stop treatments actually are successful. I wish I had better news to tell but it is what it is. No disrespect to the customer but we do not regret attempting a fix on Drew's boiler. The alternative would be shelling out around $6500 for a new boiler complete.

Have a Blessed Day!

Charlie & 'the Crew'.

We are the only company on Long Island that I am aware of that does complete rebuilds on water and steam boilers.

We started doing this about 15 years ago when there was a real-estate frenzy and the agents were looking for a less expensive way to get more life out of an old boiler that had antiquated controls and equipment on it.

What we do is pressure test your casting (heat exchanger) after we strip it down, brush and vacuum it, and examine it for any leaks. We then flush it and install sealer as a prophylactic should a pinhole leak develop later. We then replace all drain valves, circulators, outdated copper or steel pipe, electrical controls, and smoke-pipe.

We also re-build the burner to like-new specifications and paint it and install a new flange gasket.


We also re-paint all black or discolored pipe and spray the boiler jackets with hi-temperature paint.

The result is almost everything new except the casting. It looks amazing when we finish and performs like a new boiler at a savings of about $3500! Most jobs like this cost about $2000-$3000 compared to upwards of $6000 for a new unit.

It was a pleasure to be of service to you!

Charlie

If the customer calling is rather handy and has some basic tools sometimes we are able to guide him through simple fixes. Usually the problem is more complex but on simple problems we are THAT GOOD that we may be able to talk 'Granny' through a simple fix in the cold of winter until we get there! Thanks for the great review! Charlie

Thank you Nelvin for having faith in us. We did a real nice job for you and I am sure that you are super-satisfied with it.

Should you need us please call us and we will continue to give you our best quality service!

Thank you for your business & great review.
Charlie