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Saw a boiler from the 1940s still running in a school basement in Cleveland

It was a massive Cleaver-Brooks unit, and the caretaker said they just keep up with the water treatment and basic upkeep. Part of me thinks if it's safe and works, why replace a beast that's lasted this long, but the other part worries about efficiency and finding parts if it goes down. Where do you all stand on running old boilers versus pushing for a new install?
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3 Comments
henry150
henry15021d ago
Guess they're still waiting for the warranty to run out.
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abbyf79
abbyf7921d agoMost Upvoted
Honestly, run that thing until it dies, parts are a nightmare though.
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morgan_stone33
Man, that's a tough call. I've seen a few of those old Cleaver-Brooks units still chugging along. The big risk is a heat exchanger crack, and good luck finding that part. You're also burning way more fuel than a modern mod-con boiler. But if the school budget is tight and it passes inspection, I get the keep-it-running mindset. Would you gamble on another winter with it?
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