I’ve got a quick question regarding boilers.
I’m using a plumber that is new to me on a job that will use forced hot water as the heating system. The boiler will be gas fired. He likes to use Teledyne Laas boilers. I have used burnham, wells and all the rest before but Teledyne is new to me. I looked on their website and it looks like quality equipment. Anybody out there currently using their equipment or have used it on a job? Any feedback would be helpful.
Thanx
Jay
Replies
Good units. Is this a baseboard or a RFH system? Not a good choice for RFH unless you use a buffer tank. These boilers usually cost $300 less than a Burnham equivilent.
I use quite a few and have very little maintenance issues. Insist on the proper bypasses and INSIST he installs a guage on the return and makes sure the delta-T is correct, doing this according to the manual. If he doesn't do it rght you will have trouble.
These boilers MUST be piped exactly right or you will have major problems. Try your best to get him to install it "primary/secondary" with "pumping away". It has all the diagrams right in the installation book. You can download the book at their website. If he doesn't understand what this all is I would seriously question his competance.
Good pros use Laars boilers (used to be Teledyne Laars) with good results.
Bad "pros" use them because they are cheaper and the way they install them is the same leading to many problems.
They are a lot more finicky on the piping than cast iron boilers but if the piping is right you will get great service from them. And do all you can to insist on a flow switch for safety reasons.
Let me know if I helped please.
Wet Head is exactly right about piping issues, especially using a buffer tank or a bypass. I personally have had bad luck with the hot surface ignition systems on several Teledyne boilers, and I had an experience with two Mini-Therms that were miswired from the factory. Not an indictment of T-L, just relating my experience.
Very interesting. In all I've installed i never had these issues. Thanks for telling me.
Thanks for the help regarding the boiler. It will be a baseboard system. The boiler he will be using is the endurance with the domestic hot water included, have you had much experience with this? A lot of what you told me was a bit over my head. Am I better of insisting he use a wells or a burnham?
Thanx
Jay