It's a 5 year old Burnham 350000 BTU. I have not done much maintenance. Recently I had an emergency situation when the pilot went out on the weekend and wouldn't start. It took Rotorooter a day and a half to show up and then most of a day to fix it, including chimney work. They charged $880 total. I would like to try to avoid that happening again.
properly, oil would not explode if it leaks. and handling the previous tank is merely not low fee, much extra costly if it leaked. and you'd be able to shop around for the excellent cost on oil, can not try this with gas. a extra moderen boiler may be slightly extra effectual, yet not notably extra effective. do you have a cleansing and song up carried out in line with annum earlier the heating season, you will get extra effective performance in case you do. i might start up by including insulation up interior the attic. evaluate alternative doorways and domicile windows, or a minimum of latest hurricane doorways and hurricane domicile windows in the event that they're previous and not installation properly. that would desire to in all danger fee relating to comparable to changing to gas, yet might supply you fee reductions for as long as you reside there. verify to be sure if your oil company does ability audits and get one. in the event that they don't, or you purchase from the main inexpensive source and don't have a known oil settlement, verify with your city construction inspector as to the place you could bypass to get one. good success.
Have a professional come in to be sure that everything is cleaned and oiled ( if need be0 properly!
the only maintenance you have to do to a gas boiler is every fall,clean it and make sure that the pilot light is clean,and the thermocouple is clean,iam surprised that you called rotor rooter and that it took them a whole day to fix it,it sounds like you got hosed,
i didnt know roto-rooter fixed boilers.,or chimneys....anyway,i dont know of very many 5 yr old boiler problems that would take several hours to fix,except maybe a low water cut off problem on a steam boiler..is it a steam or hot water boiler?. that must have been a lot of chimney work!! if something was wrong with the pilot,,whether its a standing pilot or intermittent spark pilot,it shouldnt take long to diagnose and repair that,,maybe 60-90 minutes at the most...what was written on your reciept as to what took all that time? any parts used?..did they have to install a chimney liner?..maybe you could ask a reputable local hvac repair co. what they would have charged for that job...my guess is the roto-rooter guy didnt know what he was doing and had to keep trying things until it worked....either that or they padded the bill by taking all day....did he have to use the phone a lot for assistance?....anyway,,post added details as to what exactly you were charged for and we can tell you what that normally would cost.........to answer your original question,,not much maintanance needed for a newer hot water boiler....steam boilers need to be periodically drained,also newer type electronic low water cut off sensers are supposed to be removed and cleaned yearly,although most people dont have that done and things work fine,,yearly check-up no guarentee that boiler wont have trouble during the season......dan
