Ron Murray
New Member
We have a three-year-old Weil-McLain SGO-5 oil-fired boiler in our
house. We've just moved in, so I'm not used to these things. As you
know, there's a sight glass on the side of it that shows the water
level. If the water level gets too low, the boiler shuts off (as it
should). In the current cold weather here in Massachusetts, it's needed
topping up every day.
We were told not to let the water level get too high while topping
up, but yesterday my wife (my fault: I hadn't shown her how to do it
properly) couldn't see the water level and let it run too high. Not sure
how badly, since I wasn't home at the time. Apparently this resulted in
lots of water coming out of one of the radiators upstairs, and lots of
water in the basement, and now the boiler won't run. I haven't tried it
myself, but I'm told that it runs for a few seconds and stops.
We've had two plumbers look at it so far. One tells us we need a new
boiler, and wants to charge us $8500 for it. He says there's water
getting into the combustion chamber and that's what's putting the flame
out. If this is true, I don't see why we just can't replace the
combustion chamber rather than buy a new boiler (which we can't afford
at the moment; we've just bought the house).
The other plumber took the top off the boiler, found a lot of soot
and similar stuff, and says that's the problem and that it's coming down
from the flue. He wants to charge us $600 to clear it, but I'm a little
doubtful that the problem is so simple. I don't want to spend that much
only to find that the real problem is somewhere else.
I'd appreciate any help and/or suggestions.
house. We've just moved in, so I'm not used to these things. As you
know, there's a sight glass on the side of it that shows the water
level. If the water level gets too low, the boiler shuts off (as it
should). In the current cold weather here in Massachusetts, it's needed
topping up every day.
We were told not to let the water level get too high while topping
up, but yesterday my wife (my fault: I hadn't shown her how to do it
properly) couldn't see the water level and let it run too high. Not sure
how badly, since I wasn't home at the time. Apparently this resulted in
lots of water coming out of one of the radiators upstairs, and lots of
water in the basement, and now the boiler won't run. I haven't tried it
myself, but I'm told that it runs for a few seconds and stops.
We've had two plumbers look at it so far. One tells us we need a new
boiler, and wants to charge us $8500 for it. He says there's water
getting into the combustion chamber and that's what's putting the flame
out. If this is true, I don't see why we just can't replace the
combustion chamber rather than buy a new boiler (which we can't afford
at the moment; we've just bought the house).
The other plumber took the top off the boiler, found a lot of soot
and similar stuff, and says that's the problem and that it's coming down
from the flue. He wants to charge us $600 to clear it, but I'm a little
doubtful that the problem is so simple. I don't want to spend that much
only to find that the real problem is somewhere else.
I'd appreciate any help and/or suggestions.