Used Steam Boiler Don't Work: Another HVAC DIY Epic Failure

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Mikey Pipes - Pipe Doctor Plumbing & Heating & Air

5 ай бұрын

Homeowner got ripped off buying 20 year old used steam boiler that don't even work! Another HVAC DIY epic failure to the extreme! Ladies & Gentlemen: Hire a licensed & insured contractor!
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Пікірлер: 129

@Shawn_RHVAC 5 ай бұрын

OMFG Mikey pipes. I had a situation probably 20 years ago. I’m from New Hampshire originally there was a gas oil company that came out and serviced a gas boiler and someone had inadvertently put on the wrong pressure relief valve similar to this well ultimately the relief valve plugged upand was in operable system built up boiler exploded put the boiler in the second floor and actually blew the house off the foundation approximately 6 inches very very, very dangerous stuff. Definitely homeowners should not be messing with unless they know exactly what they’re doing.

@bauhnguefyische667 4 ай бұрын

He only see’s him at weddings and funerals😂 I’ll add another, you call it what you want 😂😂😂😂 That comment is gold, Yo!😂

@mnhvacguy9788 5 ай бұрын

Hi Mikey! I watch your videos nearly everyday. I'm in my 29th year of doing plumbing, heating and cooling, I was also an emergency responder and about 12 years ago actually had to respond to a boiler explosion at a 12 unit apartment building. Thank goodness it happened in the middle of night or people would have been killed. It was October 15th, the deadline in MN for landlords to turn the heat on so the building caretaker went down and turned the power switch on for the 1950s era hot water boiler and the next night it exploded. Due to the age and being grandfathered in there was no draft switch, no rollout switch, and most importantly no low water cut off. The windows in the laundry/mechanical room were blown out. There were chunks of steel and cast iron embedded in the concrete blocks walls along with the washer and dryer. A piece of cast iron severed the main power coming into the building so there was no power and shorted it out and blew the transformer on the pole. The 2" black iron boiler pipes were sheered off at the ceiling. Chunks of steel and cast iron penetrated the sheetrock wall behind the boiler and flew across the hallway where people walk and went through the sheetrock on the opposite side of the hallway. Across the hall was a steel security door for the storage area and the blast was so powerful it caused the steel door to bow in so far that it would no longer latch. Amazingly the potable water plumbing remained mostly intact with a few joints just spurting but nothing was seriously broken. With the size of the building and piping there was only a 5 foot diameter damp spot on the floor where the boiler used to stand, the water went somewhere and the boiler ran dry and exploded. Everybody was evacuated and the building was deemed uninhabitable due to no power and no heat. And yes, there were lawyers involved afterwards

@davidlampe4153 5 ай бұрын

Read the book “lost art of steam heating “ lots of good information about boilers and stories from 1800’s about boiler explosion’s.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Absolutely love the lost art of steam heating

@douglasmayherjr.5733 5 ай бұрын

That’s a tough call there. I feel bad for the uncle that owns the house, it has obviously got to be more than he can handle alone. You never know the whole story, is the guy not have a bunch of money and just barely holding on, or is he have money and refuses to spend any to keep up the property? The used boiler could be a nightmare that might fail at any time or last another 10 years, probably not piped that way. On one hand it would be nice to see a new boiler installed at a reduced cost, but it will probably be trashed in a year or two if nothing else was done. Thanks for sharing this and how you dealt with it honestly.

@stevechapin5414 5 ай бұрын

Never be scared of your pricing!

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Unless you're charging a million bucks for a stick of gum, then maybe be a little scared!

@chatrkat 5 ай бұрын

😱 Mike, you are a kind man. I would have made a 180° turn two feet inside the front door. No offense to the electrician trying to do a good deed.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I thought maybe there was gonna be some help for this boiler but after seeing how they rigged it together and just it just needs to be taken out and replaced but a better better job would be to raise the house and rebuild

@chatrkat 5 ай бұрын

@@PipeDoctor agreed, that was a mess and not something your company can risk, way to much of a liability. I hope you were able to enjoy the big game today, without any emergency service calls coming in by halftime.

@alanjordan7713 5 ай бұрын

That had to be hell coming from Florida to that

@LorgCL 5 ай бұрын

The phenomenon you're referring to is the colligative properties of matter in solution, namely freezing point depression and boiling point elevation. The same properties of matter that allow snow to be melted with salt. The more molecules of solute (salt in the snow, rust particles in the boiler) in the solvent (the water or snow), the greater the effects of boiling point elevation and freezing point depression.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Now I feel like I just got a third year college chemistry class in 20 seconds It took me to read your comment.

@nellomichi6416 5 ай бұрын

very impressive !!

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot!

@Shawn_RHVAC 5 ай бұрын

Just have to share another story real quick again from New Hampshire. Probably about 20 years ago. Had a service call for a no heat in the middle of winter. I got their steam boiler no automatic water feeder boiler had been run dry homeowners were away on vacation the night they came home was the night the boiler decided to fail. All the water boiled out the boiler was blowing red, it was so hot. It actually melted the copper pipes on top of the boiler out of the header. Correction melt the pipes melted the solder pipe joint.

@joed9908 5 ай бұрын

You are right to not judge at the end. It is what it is.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Only God can judge

@perrierhoden5891 5 ай бұрын

This is what happen when customer /home owner have too much information

@theodorgiosan2570 5 ай бұрын

It's not too much information, but just enough to do it wrong, and too lazy to take the time to do it right. I did my own boiler install at my last house, when it was sold, the buyers remarked on how clean the installation was. I didn't do it in a weekend though, I spent every weekend from April to September getting it perfect, fixing everything, down to every last tiny leak. Before that I had also been interested in steam systems since I was a kid, and had read books on the subject for years. That boiler is still working today, 8 years later, and 2 owners later. I also did a complete controls rebuild and rewire on the oil furnace at my mother's house. Old Metromatic with a Beckett SR burner. Heat exchanger was in perfect shape with not even surface rust, so why bother with a new one when it will probably outlive 5 new ones. So I put a Carlin 70200 primary, delayed oil valve, tigerloop, etc, and set it up properly with a combustion analyzer, and again it works perfectly to this day. At her house I also installed a Toyotomi oil fired tankless water heater, also still works to this day. At my current house I am about to install a new boiler. But it won't be a used piece of junk, and it won't be installed with a double header, copper Hartford loop, and all of the other junk in this installation. Nor am I going to use press fittings unless I have to replace a leaking union out in the system. No, it will be a Burnham Megasteam 288 with a 3 inch header, 2 inch equalizer, all cast iron fittings, dual probe low water cutoffs, one automatic, and one manual reset, and a Vaporstat. When it is all said and done, it will probably cost me more than if I had paid a plumber to do it, but I will trust the installation more and everything will be configured exactly the way I want it to be. Because I don't do it to be cheap, but because I enjoy doing the work and I want it to be done a specific way.

@jascoplumbingsupply4224 5 ай бұрын

Oh damn that’s one of mine again.well it was when it was new haha. The orange sticker is a long time customer of mine.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Haha 😂

@throttlebottle5906 5 ай бұрын

oh lord, the 1950's called and want that old kitchen back!

@earlestes8649 5 ай бұрын

Yeah ? Money and change is hard for people 😊

@mrharry8466 5 ай бұрын

THAT'S THE STUFF I FOUND. That green stuff that was on the car door. Bondo ? Well a customer had used it on the bath and basin taps. 6 hours to replace bath and basin taps. 😢😂

@johnjacobellis3864 5 ай бұрын

Walk Away......You are too good to do a great job and likely be unappreciated in the end.

@CommercialGasEngineerVideos 5 ай бұрын

Well the thing is such a house makes opportunity for a great video.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

No, but it’s an opportunity to document the filth and the living conditions at this poor old man is living in. You know, this old man needs to be taken out of that home and put in a safe environment, and the house needs to be condemned, demolished and rebuilt and the, I’ll go from there. This is just straight up. Disgusting that people can live in such filth like this and family members are allowing this and enabling this to happen.

@issacrobertson 5 ай бұрын

Looks like mikey pipes philanthropy to the rescue

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

No, I don’t think this is a a nonprofit job here. I think this is a problem with someone not wanting to part with their cash to you know to get the job done

@scotts4125 5 ай бұрын

My BIL is an exotic car collector. He has lifts in his garage to fit more in. He probably has 20 in a warehouse. He has a GT.

@davidlampe4153 5 ай бұрын

Mike I watch your videos every day. I need a new boiler was recently quoted from a reputable company $30k for boiler replacement near boiler piping low water return fixing valves (new) on radiator’s mounting some new radiator’s and replace the steam traps. I’m going to refinance my house and get it done. I see those used boilers in Facebook marketplace but it’s just too risky. You don’t know what your getting and KZfaq is great but it’s not going to make you a plumber no matter how many videos you watch.

@throttlebottle5906 5 ай бұрын

a used boiler would only be worthwhile if you are doing all the labor yourself, otherwise don't mess around and get something with a warranty and done to code. your insurance would likely go nuts with high rates or cancel you, if not done by licensed contractor/permitted.

@michaelsannuti270 5 ай бұрын

I agree he does wanna part with his money. Good job.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yup 👍

@mattd916 4 ай бұрын

@PipeDoctor You forgot the red carpet :P

@PipeDoctor 4 ай бұрын

You’re right

@heatcool914 5 ай бұрын

I would have walked right out, respect for filming and staying in there I can’t imagine it was worth it for anything but the content

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

You know honestly, I saw the condition of that house as soon as I stepped in the door and I’m like I was just curious to see what the basement was gonna look like and it’s just disgusting. Disgusting.

@PeteGaughenbaugh1 4 ай бұрын

All that was missing was a kiddie pool full of cat litter

@walnutcontractors5661 5 ай бұрын

It was nice of you to give them options. Really with the shape that house was in and the age of the person living there it just wouldn't make sense to put a new boiler in. Spend a couple grand putting in some baseboard heaters and be done with it. I imagine that house would either get torn down? or gutted on a possession change but really if the the guy has been there his whole life and has his routines, friends / family / doctors in that neighborhood then let him live out his time there. Probably live longer in that place than if he moves somewhere unfamiliar without supports. If there is one thing they should spend money on it is someone to clean the house.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Just keeping it real you know obviously you know that boiler should be replaced with a new one when the house is torn down after it’s condemned

@tjlovesrachel 5 ай бұрын

Why is that man in the flannel jibber jabbering 😂😂

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol 😆

@DCHVAC 5 ай бұрын

What a mess… and the camera guy held the phone wrong lol.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

tell me about it. gave him ONE job to do "hold the camera like this...."

@chatrkat 5 ай бұрын

@@PipeDoctormy sister is the same! But she’s a still photographer. Go figure?

@ItsTheCostanza 5 ай бұрын

This house and the car reminds me of something Ted Cook would build with his hands

@shahsmerdis 5 ай бұрын

This should be an interview question lol

@BlahBlah-em2ed 5 ай бұрын

Something something stacks

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Stacks upon stacks

@scottvolage1752 5 ай бұрын

It's sad when people let family stay in such conditions. And wasting what little money they have on used 30+ year old heating equipment is really a crime. Make the trades safe again. Make the trades great again. God Bless and stay safe everyone.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

This is 100% that situation. How do you let a family member live in such filth and disgusting conditions inside a home? This house needs to be condemned after the homeowner is removed from it for their own mental health and physical you know sanity

@scottmaz4063 5 ай бұрын

Omg you went to that house.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

I sure did, and I knew about it in advance

@scottmaz4063 5 ай бұрын

He has a trike place is a wreck. Always wondered what it was like in there 😂

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Well, now, you know like everyone else who lives in the Lynbrook area

@jasongeo2 5 ай бұрын

I live a Block away or so from that house...lol. I always thought if he had that falling apart Ford and crap in his driveway and the pvc gate off its hinges? What condition is the inside? Well your video answered my question 😅How does he pay his property taxes? Guess his son is just working along with pops social security they just get by. Thats a shitty way to live especially in Lynbrook. Better off moving where taxes are way lower. If I was him I would install a diseal heater in the room or rooms they use. I use a Chinese diseal heater made to heat vans or cars, but you can use them for bedrooms. Just retro fit exhaust and intake to a window adapter. It's very cheap and easy to do. And works . I met Daniel the other day in Franklin Square and now your 2 blocks away from me. Lol. Kind of cool.😂

@eddiereichel9354 5 ай бұрын

Instead of taking the wires off you measure in volts. The leads measure difference in voltage.. if switch is open you read 24v. If switch is closed you read the voltage drop across contacts. Should be close to 0 volts. If you move shit around as ya can see you chase the issue

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

That’s a great idea but I also like to check my connections to make sure they’re secure. This is what works for me. Thanks for sharing your feedback.

@captainwho1 3 ай бұрын

Maybe the guy just needs to have new terminals crimped onto the wires for the flame rollout switch, ie. bad connections. When you removed and reconnected the boiler fired. Those code compliant pressure gages often get clogged and they are no longer sensing the pressure of the boiler but that clogged airspace gets pressurized by the heat of the boiler and it could then read 15 psi with only 0.5psi actual in the boiler steamchest. I know you know these things. This boiler may be salvageable and could be made code compliant with the proper drip leg installed on the pressure relief valve. A new pressuretrol only costs a little over $200. Why does he have to have a new boiler when he probably can't afford one?

@jayclark5912 5 ай бұрын

You did good at not bad mouthing joe homeowner. Steve Lav is brutal about it.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Listen, I can bring the camel to water I can’t make a drink

@isaacehrlich9277 5 ай бұрын

Speed kills.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Facts

@marty0715yt 5 ай бұрын

Holy Cow Run away before the entire structure collapses. Maybe fix it in trade for that rare Ford GT? Vw powered. Almost the same as your Porsche.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol

@swaterman08 5 ай бұрын

If that dude was an electrician. maybe tell them to go buy some 220v electric baseboards. give them an excuse to help clean up the dudes house. its a shame no one is helping him around the house.

@Nihilumbra 5 ай бұрын

240

@throttlebottle5906 5 ай бұрын

most scrap yards likely wont buy melted copper ingots, since there's no way to ensure it's purity or having other junk cast inside. so you'll probably end up stuck with it, giving it away and losing money on all the electric/fuel used to melt it down, and the cost to melt it will likely outweigh the payout if anyone does take it.! so pretty much unless you're going to make stuff out of it, don't bother. 😉

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

It’s more for the adventure

@TheRAMBO9191 5 ай бұрын

They definitely paying for your time lmao. And very rough living conditions there. Wow. I wouldn't go back. Living conditions like that shouldn't own a home.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

This was a tough service call to complete but maybe just maybe they will decide that this family member needs to be moved someplace safe and a clean environment. Only time will tell.

@gregs9555 5 ай бұрын

Bet there is a brand new car in the driveway but didn't want to spend the money for a new steam boiler properly installed

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol 😆

@jasonthewiczman5442 5 ай бұрын

Hacks brings Stacks

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

And this was not even a hack job to begin with, but it is what it is

@andydavis3739 5 ай бұрын

Well look what 1400 got ya. Compared to professional experience 😮

@gaurd3 5 ай бұрын

parting of money concern. lol on the head

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, it sucks but he has a choice to make part with the money or have no heat

@ericwotton2046 5 ай бұрын

You must have stuck around for the views.....holy shit!

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol not really

@tuppersdad 5 ай бұрын

Dunkirk 2.5 header.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Why not a3 1/2

@tuppersdad 5 ай бұрын

Lol just saying Dunkirk are 2.5 headers. Bigger never hurts.

@wranglers2 5 ай бұрын

I can't believe people live with such a mess.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

It boggles my mind. Seriously it’s sad, but uses the life you choose to lead

@dcrams16 5 ай бұрын

Holy macaroni

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yep some people choose to live this way

@patmurphy2472 5 ай бұрын

I used to hate fixing other people's issues. Once you get in there, you own it? Get the pros for safety related trades.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

The real solution is to rip it out and start over that means the foundation of the house and rebuilding the whole house completely from the foundation up. That’s the only real solution here.

@eddiereichel9354 5 ай бұрын

I went to school for industrial maintenance when I got out of prison. Went to work for a plastic place. I knew more than the guy in charge of maintenance the day I walked in. Over year and half watched him burn 500k or more. He was a navy electrician. He did a lot of wiring there. We had a transformer he installed 440v to 120/208v that ran all the 120v workstations. He never bonded the transformer on like 3 of the jobs he did. Luckily no one for hurt. Couldnr figure out how 75v was on neutral 😂😂. How can a master electrician not find a broken wire. He literally could have bought a brand new boiler for what they paid for that scrap one.

@asshatjonez2627 5 ай бұрын

Holy Shit

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

I swear you can’t make this shit up

@kens.3729 5 ай бұрын

Are you a Self Reporter ? 😬👍 Every Square Inch of this House most likely looks like what we saw. This is a True Definition of the Word, Disaster. 🤔👎🙏

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Sad people can tolerate to live in this environment

@paulyanega2373 5 ай бұрын

theres nothing wrong with doing it rite ! that call is for someone else who doesnt mind butchering things . always hold your ground when it comes to your reputation

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I wasn’t gonna touch that with a 10 foot pole and that guy pushing

@kens.3729 5 ай бұрын

People Don’t get Rich by Accident. 🤪👎

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol

@kkovler1 5 ай бұрын

obviously they have no money, and you should of left immediately

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I don’t agree with you but thanks for watching

@johnwalker890 5 ай бұрын

Save a penny, spend thousands, Anyone can say that they are an electrician or plumber, You know that. But you said look at the work they do. The young guy sounded like he had a mental issue, could not speak clearly, But I give you credit, you tried, But after I saw the indoor condition, I would have walked away from the issue.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

They obviously had some money to go buy a used boiler as 20 years old from the Bronx for two $2000. I’m sure they have another 10 or 20 or 100 sitting somewhere else I don’t see this is a nonprofit job.

@albertl6963 5 ай бұрын

Uhhh. Get rid of it

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

You mean the whole entire house? Starting from the foundation and working your way up?

@albertl6963 5 ай бұрын

correction yep@@PipeDoctor

@ItsTheCostanza 5 ай бұрын

Mikey Pipes ANTI DIY

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

lol

@shahsmerdis 5 ай бұрын

sucks, master electrician, and definitely in mental decline of some kind. really sad. definitely looked like a loose connection there.

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

It’s always sad walking into a project like this, and not really being able to help but some people make the choices and they make their own bed and they lie in

@steveblake8766 5 ай бұрын

443 thumbs up

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Thanks again Steve

@jpmbaron 5 ай бұрын

The shit a guy gets into sometimes. 🤦‍♂️

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

I know I swear you can’t make this shit up

@flyer617 5 ай бұрын

test comment

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

Did it work?

@chasingcapsaicin 5 ай бұрын

waTHeGaa

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

What are you even trying to say?

@chasingcapsaicin 5 ай бұрын

they were so close to@@PipeDoctor

@Jam3s27 5 ай бұрын

Please stop talking and cutting Mikey off you should be all ears because you obv tryed to save money which I get and do it your self but seems like you have a lot of issues so just sit back and learn you something not being mean just saying g

@PipeDoctor 5 ай бұрын

💕