Wayne,
I had the same concerns as you after meeting the gentleman. It was a little suspicious that he was getting out of wood heat when he was living on a LOGGING ROAD in upstate New York. I settled on a price of $2300. I did my research and the same unit would cost around $8000 here. I liked his because it was such a simple operation: a coil/damper, aquastat and an overtemp snap disc. I wasn't thrilled with having a digital controller that could go bad and really leave you in a fix. I bought all of the replacement parts that I just mentioned from a dealer. In addition, I removed the door and had a new plate fabbed up that gets welded and bolted to the door. The old one was really beat. BTW the door weighs a ton. I think Central Boiler was cutting costs when they changed the style of having the damper in the door versus the side like mine is. The cost of casting that old style door can't be cost effective. I had to replace the door gasket too. I also bought two new sections of chimney (his were shot), a band to connect them together and an adapter becasue the new chimney is a different style than the one he had and wouldn't mount up to the old unit. I also bought a spark arrestor. The parts cost me around $550. The other costs I had were $100 for thermopex pipe and $100 for hot water tubing, $100 for a circulator pump and $220 for a 180,000 BTU heat exchanger. All told was about $4000 invested. It will pay for itself within three years.
Not too long after I had it hooked up, the damper kept sticking open. I tried lubricating it, but it still stuck. It was a little unnerving to see and hear it making STEAM instead of just HOT WATER. I changed out the coil for the damper with the spare I bought and its been fine since. It doesn't get that cold here in rural South Jersey, but the boiler is doing an admiral job. I can't find any leaks and our house stays in the 70's.
My wife and I love it. I fill it twice a day and she is able to keep it going until I can come hom from work and throw in some big logs. My only complaint is that it uses a thermometer to read the temperature. Like I mentioned above, I like having the simple aquastat to control temperature but a digital display would be nice. My project for the spring is to remove the thermometer and install a type K dual element thermocouple. I'm going to have a local digital display and I will have another in the house so I know what the temperature is. I've looked long and hard on Craigslist for used Central Boilers, but they seem few and far between in my price range. I like the reputation of Central Boilers and the fact you can still get parts even for the dinosaur ones. That's why I drove so far to get that one. I guess now you know how the unit performed. I figured you would want to know. Good luck with your unit.
I had the same concerns as you after meeting the gentleman. It was a little suspicious that he was getting out of wood heat when he was living on a LOGGING ROAD in upstate New York. I settled on a price of $2300. I did my research and the same unit would cost around $8000 here. I liked his because it was such a simple operation: a coil/damper, aquastat and an overtemp snap disc. I wasn't thrilled with having a digital controller that could go bad and really leave you in a fix. I bought all of the replacement parts that I just mentioned from a dealer. In addition, I removed the door and had a new plate fabbed up that gets welded and bolted to the door. The old one was really beat. BTW the door weighs a ton. I think Central Boiler was cutting costs when they changed the style of having the damper in the door versus the side like mine is. The cost of casting that old style door can't be cost effective. I had to replace the door gasket too. I also bought two new sections of chimney (his were shot), a band to connect them together and an adapter becasue the new chimney is a different style than the one he had and wouldn't mount up to the old unit. I also bought a spark arrestor. The parts cost me around $550. The other costs I had were $100 for thermopex pipe and $100 for hot water tubing, $100 for a circulator pump and $220 for a 180,000 BTU heat exchanger. All told was about $4000 invested. It will pay for itself within three years.
Not too long after I had it hooked up, the damper kept sticking open. I tried lubricating it, but it still stuck. It was a little unnerving to see and hear it making STEAM instead of just HOT WATER. I changed out the coil for the damper with the spare I bought and its been fine since. It doesn't get that cold here in rural South Jersey, but the boiler is doing an admiral job. I can't find any leaks and our house stays in the 70's.
My wife and I love it. I fill it twice a day and she is able to keep it going until I can come hom from work and throw in some big logs. My only complaint is that it uses a thermometer to read the temperature. Like I mentioned above, I like having the simple aquastat to control temperature but a digital display would be nice. My project for the spring is to remove the thermometer and install a type K dual element thermocouple. I'm going to have a local digital display and I will have another in the house so I know what the temperature is. I've looked long and hard on Craigslist for used Central Boilers, but they seem few and far between in my price range. I like the reputation of Central Boilers and the fact you can still get parts even for the dinosaur ones. That's why I drove so far to get that one. I guess now you know how the unit performed. I figured you would want to know. Good luck with your unit.