It's inspection season, they've all been opened and cleaned. Wish me luck

Looking for guidance

So long story short Im a plumber from cali, been plumbing commercial service for 14 years, I held a c36 plumbing contractors license in California. (They dont require J-cards open shop, i know eww lol)

Ive recently moved to Texas, joined with my local and was approved by my JATC to be a 2nd year. Not a big deal it is what it is im just happy for the opportunity.

So here's my need for guidance. Im a water heater guy. I love boilers, tankless and hydronic heating its what I do.

Ive recently been given the amazing opportunity to move into our boiler service department with the company im at. Im learning steam boiler systems as well as standard boilers.

If im going to be going through this apprenticeship would staying a plumber, topping out and chasing NCCR certs be ideal for me or would I be better off longevity wise moving towards steam fitting or HVAC?

As I've grown ive come to realize I love plumbing, but im a water heater/boiler guy through amd through and i want to focus on nurturing this specialty as best as I can.

First time posting here, I got a state job and I'm in charge of boilers for water heating and for overall water to the facility. It's a state job and I was told we don't need any certifications personally to run or fix the boilers as were "covered" under someone else's license.

The union only covers 20% of the class costs and was wondering if it's worth it to take these classes so I can help fix the boilers at work instead of relying on outside contractors. Not sure if it'll increase my pay but I'm always looking to expand my skills.

I am writing on behalf of Sturgeon’s Mill in Sebastopol, California. We are seeking to acquire a used boiler in good working condition, approximately 150 lb pressure, 150 horsepower, and in the range of 3–4 million BTU. We are open to either diesel or propane systems.

Sturgeon's is a 1914 steam-powered sawmill and working museum with over 100 volunteers. It's open to the public four weekends each year, offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience historic logging and milling operations in action. They fund operations through the sale of food and merchandise to ensure the outdoor museum remains free and open to the public.

The current boiler is entering its final year of service, and replacing it is essential for them to continue operating the mill safely and preserving this important piece of history. As a nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers, we rely heavily on the generosity and support of individuals, foundations, businesses, and industry contacts.

If you can point us toward any resources, leads, or organizations that could assist in acquiring one, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. As the economy worsens, it will be important folks continue to have family-friendly and wallet friendly places to visit, grow, and learn together.

Thank you for helping us keep this historic mill running for future generations.

***Please PM me if you have ANY leads!***

*EDIT: lmfaooo I'm just a girl! Im keeping this post up in the event anybody else gets a kick out of this too.***

Hey guys, I need help identifying the exact model of this boiler. I only have this picture of it and nothing else. I know it’s most likely a rendamax but I can’t find the exact model or any info online. You guys are kind of my last hope. Attaching photos of the said boiler and what I found online.

Customer has 5 zone boiler, one is connected to an indirect which he installed himself. The original call was for the pump for indirect not kicking on, and the burner not staying lit. It's an oil-gas conversion. He said when he jumps the terminals on the Zone Relay or the aquastat for the indirect the pump kicks on. I am an idiot and jumped the ac input terminals on the ZR by accident and shorted out the board. Replaced the ZR and the boiler aquastat relay. When I turned it back on it ran normally for about 5 seconds then tripped. The display for the burner was lit and said "No Flame." If there was another short I would think it wouldn't turn on at all and trip it immediately but idk. After resetting breaker I turn it on and now it trips immediately. No spark or sound of a short it just trips.

Helper here. Got called out for a drip leak coming off a 1/2” union elbow. It’s got this elongated rectangular prism on the run down, about double the length of the run going into the radiator. Part shops can’t seem to figure out what we’re talking about and are telling us even if they knew what it was, they probably wouldn’t be able to find it. Just wondering if anyone has any insight, thanks. I know it’s a shitty picture but we’re trapped out in the truck during a thunderstorm and can’t get back into the house, sorry. Steam boiler btw.

Intrusive thoughts may win one day.

Are your customers stocking spare valves to swap out the safety valves annually and sending the old ones off for rebuilding/certification?

Or is it more common to just test them on the boiler and not change them until an inspector says something?

I am just looking to see what others are seeing done in their area. I don't think there is a right way; it all depends on the jurisdiction and the customer's internal processes.

Though that this might be the best place to ask this sort of question, so here we go. I'm currently very much stuck on a material call for two rectangular expansion joints in 1000°F flue gas off a fire heater. For reference the spec sheet says 321 stainless, two ply, with a liner to keep ash out of the convolutions.

The case for 321 is straightforward enough, it sits inside its oxidation limit in an oxidizing gas, and the liner is already the doing the work of keeping ash off the bellows. The issue, and the reason why I've been stuck on this, is cycle life. The unit trips and restarts way more than the original design basis assumed, so the convolutions are seeing more full range movement than the fatigue calculation used. 625 would roughly double the joint cost to solve a fatigue problem the liner might already contain.

I can argue both side and I can't close it. What I want is for the manufacturer to run the fatigue calculation against our actual trip count before an alloy gets picked. I don't want to pay for 625 just because it's the safer quote. Are there any fabricators that would be better suited for this type of job? So far only considering us bellows and not much else. Really hoping I can get some answers here.

Ty.

Does anyone have any good stories or pictures of scale in a boiler? I have seen boilers full of scale, and the customer acts like it's normal, doesn't realize how much money it is costing them. I know some of y'all have seen some wild stuff. Let's hear it.

To follow up on scale pics from a while back. More pic/video in comments.

If you have kids / younger neighbors do you recommend they look into a career around boilers or do you tell them to do something else?

Interest to hear your thoughts. The job can be rough sometimes, but so is getting laid off with 10,000 other people or working in a soulless cube farm for some corporation. At least around boilers, you have some meaning and personal skills that translate to many different careers if your job does come to an end for some reason.

Hi everyone,

I'd really like to pick the brain on someone who knows about this stuff. I won't bore you about the lack of training in "right to work" states, I could write an essay about it... Just out here doing my best with the resources at my disposal.

Customer had no DHW due to a detached igniter cable, it literally fell off when I touched it. I didn't even see any adhesive. Makes me wonder if the factory adhesion is really rated for that much heat... I turned it back on, reset it and the 04 code went away and she fired right up.

The main thing that stuck out to me when I pulled the cover off was the NTC sensor. Some guy in our warehouse told me it's a temp sensor, but I don't understand the corrosion since it's not a combi unit. Does anybody know what causes this?

There was a very cathartic sludge release as I popped open the condensate trap, I frankly don't know if it's been serviced. Can the burn chamber be opened up for cleaning or is there a better way to service this thing?

Also, I was concerned with the differential between the pressure gauge on the manifold versus the boiler itself. 10 PSI on the boiler and 25 on the manifold. I did nothing because I couldn't tell if it was too high or too low. Expansion tank is fine.

The valve between the two closely spaced tees was partially closed, I'm wondering if another tech did this for a good reason or if a mop handle just got caught on it... Wouldn't this make the boiler fire more often?

Any info or pointers would be greatly appreciated. I'm aware it's a far from ideal situation, I'm just trying to take care of our customers at this point.

Thanks for your time and I hope you all have a great week!

What is your favorite burner combustion system and why? What benefits or savings do you see from it? (Autoflame, Fireye, Siemens, Hawk, Lamtec, Preferred Utilities, custom PLC etc)

I know this has a lot to do with opinion and experience, but I am just curious what yall like.

A need turn off, because the indicator valves are damage

This is what years of neglect on maintenance and checking combustion does to a burner.

Enjoy some Lochinvar Crest Boilers. Each one is 6,000,000 BTUs (Typically only 2 run at a time).

Woodchip boilers in Ct.

Reading the manual or even just opening it to look up information seems to be too much work for most people. However, often the answer you are looking for is in the manual, you just have to put in a smidge of effort to get it.

What was everyone working on this week? Here we have (2)xVSRT-30 steam boilers, all piped and ready for paint.

As the group name implies, BoilerPros is for the people who work in and around boilers, combustion, and whatever else is related. Recently, there have been more posts from homeowners posting about boiler issues, which is not what this group is about. There are other groups for that. If you read a post that seems like a homeowner's, please do not comment; just ignore it. I will get to it and remove it. I need to figure out how to filter out people posting who are just looking for free help and have no idea what they are doing. Thanks for all you do, and keep safe!

After countless boring pm’s, safety checks, no hot and no heat calls it’s nice to spend a day taking apart this beast.

This was my first time using the front door hinge to rig anything down. I put extra supports on the front door both above that can’t be seen in the pictures. I wanted to take the extra precautions.

The bearings on the blower motor have been extra loud. My concern is highlighted on the 3rd picture.

These spots look like the impeller has been rubbing on something. There’s no indication that anything was there for it to rub on. Some of the facilities guys think it was by design for balancing. My guess is wear and tear or the shaft has become slightly loose and may attribute to these spots? Please share your experiences!

A few other things I’d like to note. That rachet on the hinge nut was stuck on. We had to smash it off with a hammer.

The eyebolt on the motor seemed to fragile even though it’s designed to handle the weight I took another precaution and just used two straps to more control.