Let me introduce myself.

[ScientistJoe]

Hello,

I'm a handy man with all sorts of experience, but until now have always left the heating and cooling work to the professionals. I recently acquired employment managing a 26 unit rental property and with it all the responsibilities of maintaining its ancient steam boiler. I look forward to discussing my experiences/headaches with everyone here, and I hope to learn a lot from fellow members experience/knowledge.

Joe

[Gleng]

Painting.carpentry,plumbing is one thing.Working on a Boiler is NOT the same in terms of SAFETY.Unless you have worked with a professional and gotten some boiler experience,you better call a professional.You should have a service agreement on that boiler.

[keeplearnin]

do you have any experience at all working on boilers? Its not really handy man type of stuff. There are safety issues involved with boilers that one needs to be aware of. You man want to tell your landlord to get a pro contractor to work on it if it is not working correctly, just my two cents. I am not a lawyer.

[coolwhip]

Watch out for Robos busy hands!

[keeplearnin]

good point on the service agreement

[ga-hvac-tech]

I agree with Gleng on this... imagine the insurance liability if that boiler exploded because someone who was not trained and experienced did something wrong...

I well understand apt complexes want everything as cheap as possible... I wonder what the apt liability insurance co would say if they knew the boiler was being maintained by a non-trained person... :eek2: Might be cheaper to hire a pro and keep the ins rates down... :D

[seuadr]

I agree with Gleng on this... imagine the insurance liability if that boiler exploded because someone who was not trained and experienced did something wrong...


He is not kidding about a boiler exploding!

steam propagates 3 times faster than dynamite. (that means 3 times bigger BOOM)

hot water boilers are somewhat of a different story.

[ScientistJoe]

Thanks for all your input. :LOL: I am aware of the risks involved with boiler operation, I am chemist and I I know all about the dangers of steam and stuff that goes boom, we have an experienced repairman that handles routine boiler maintenance and has gone over what I need to do weekly to keep her happy, but the building is old, its not the original furnace and the system is confusing to say the least. I'm not attempting any repairs that I'm not 100% confidant about doing, I can change thermostatic traps, adjust thermostat, and blowdown the boiler. I joined this forum in hopes some of you can help me understand how the system runs and how to ensure it is running efficiently. I am always very careful about agreeing to do anything I'm not thoroughly trained in, I know about all there is to know about residential wiring but I will not touch the electrical in this building as it is so old and I'm not an insured electrician, I always leave the big repairs to the professionals. I just feel like I'm running into a brick wall trying to keep all the apartments comfortable, fine tunning this system is a nightmare, either too hot, too cold, or not heating apartments evenly.