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Cast iron vs steel Boilers
QUESTION:Can somebody explain the pros and cons of cast iron and steel boilers?
I have heard of weil-mclein and burnham, does anybody know if
thermodynamic brand is a good boiler?
ANSWER: Some folks say that cast iron boilers will last longer.
However, I've seen several steel boilers that lasted 30 to 40 years.
I replaced a Columbia steel boiler in my house that was over 30 years
old. It was an oil fired boiler with a non flame retention burner. I
replaced it mainly for efficiency reasons.
Although I ended up putting a cast iron (Slant Fin) boiler in my
house, that was mainly based upon price and efficiency in terms of
what was locally available.
Oftentimes, you will find better efficiency in a cast iron boiler
since they are generally of "wet base" design, at least in the oil
fired configuration.
However, even that is not absolute since New Yorker makes a wet base
horizontal fire tube steel boiler.
My mother-in-law had a Burnham steel boiler installed in her house
about 5 years ago. It's the oil fired version with a domestic hot
water coil. So far, she's had no problems with it.
Its efficiency was about 82% which was 2 to 3% less than Burnham's
similar cast iron boiler but she figured that she wouldn't make up the
cost difference during its (or perhaps her) lifetime.
I've never heard of the "Thermodynamic" brand of boilers.
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