Boiler Service & Maintenance

If you need service work done on your boiler, call now for a free quote. 

Book an appointment with us for service work and we'll make sure your boiler is working as expected.

Boiler service should always be performed by qualified personnel and our boiler technicians can advise you on the correct service requirements for your boiler system.

• Visual inspection
  
• Pipe and flue inspection
  
• Testing water pressure
• Check system diagnostics and error codes
  
• Boiler flushing
  
• Annual maintenance programs
• Remove and replace
• New installation

Boilers are reliable workhorses, but a lack of maintenance can result in leaking of poisonous carbon monoxide and possibly an explosion. Proper maintenance is, therefore, essential. Despite the need for stringent maintenance – as legislated in British Columbia – boilers provide the most economical means of delivering hot water.

Boiler Repair

We are experts at boiler service, repair and maintenance. If you have a boiler in your home or business, or wish to have one installed anywhere in the Kelowna area, Shamrocks Plumbing is the only name you need to know for expert installation, maintenance and repair.

Most homes are heated with a forced air furnace or by electric baseboards. There are other heating methods as well, but here we will focus on radiant in-floor heating and boilers.

Radiant in-floor heat involves the use of low-temperature heating elements within walls and floors. The heating elements warm the floor which in turn warms the entire living space. Advantages include reduced heating costs and a decrease in airborne particles due to lower air circulation – a boon to allergy sufferers. Also, the warmth of the floors will keep you warm far longer in the event of a power interruption.

Though some in floor radiant heat systems are powered by electricity, more common are systems that use water heated in a boiler, which itself can be fired by gas, oil or electricity. We have decades of experience with both residential and commercial boiler installation, maintenance and repair.

If you have any concerns about your boiler system call us for a free consultation.

A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central heating, boiler-based power generation, cooking, and sanitation.

Boilers can be classified into the following configurations:

Pot Boiler or Haycock Boiler/Haystack Boiler

A primitive "kettle" where a fire heats a partially filled water container from below. 18th century Haycock boilers generally produced and stored large volumes of very low-pressure steam, often hardly above that of the atmosphere. These could burn wood or most often, coal. Efficiency was very low.

Flued Boiler

With one or two large flues—an early type or forerunner of fire-tube boiler.

Fire-tube Boiler

Here, water partially fills a boiler barrel with a small volume left above to accommodate the steam (steam space). This is the type of boiler used in nearly all steam locomotives. The heat source is inside a furnace or firebox that has to be kept permanently surrounded by the water in order to maintain the temperature of the heating surface below the boiling point. The furnace can be situated at one end of a fire-tube which lengthens the path of the hot gases, thus augmenting the heating surface which can be further increased by making the gases reverse direction through a second parallel tube or a bundle of multiple tubes (two-pass or return flue boiler); alternatively the gases may be taken along the sides and then beneath the boiler through flues (3-pass boiler). In case of a locomotive-type boiler, a boiler barrel extends from the firebox and the hot gases pass through a bundle of fire tubes inside the barrel which greatly increases the heating surface compared to a single tube and further improves heat transfer. Fire-tube boilers usually have a comparatively low rate of steam production, but high steam storage capacity. Fire-tube boilers mostly burn solid fuels, but are readily adaptable to those of the liquid or gas variety. Fire-tube boilers may also be referred to as "scotch-marine" or "marine" type boilers.

Water-Tube Boiler

In this type, tubes filled with water are arranged inside a furnace in a number of possible configurations. Often the water tubes connect large drums, the lower ones containing water and the upper ones steam and water; in other cases, such as a mono-tube boiler, water is circulated by a pump through a succession of coils. This type generally gives high steam production rates, but less storage capacity than the above. Water tube boilers can be designed to exploit any heat source and are generally preferred in high-pressure applications since the high-pressure water/steam is contained within small diameter pipes which can withstand the pressure with a thinner wall. These boilers are commonly constructed in place, roughly square in shape, and can be multiple stories tall.

Flash Boiler

A flash boiler is a specialized type of water-tube boiler in which tubes are close together and water is pumped through them. A flash boiler differs from the type of mono-tube steam generator in which the tube is permanently filled with water. In a flash boiler, the tube is kept so hot that the water feed is quickly flashed into steam and superheated. Flash boilers had some use in automobiles in the 19th century and this use continued into the early 20th century.

Fire-Tube Boiler With Water-Tube Firebox

Sometimes the two above types have been combined in the following manner: the firebox contains an assembly of water tubes, called thermic siphons. The gases then pass through a conventional firetube boiler. Water-tube fireboxes were installed in many Hungarian locomotives, but have met with little success in other countries.

Sectional Boiler

In a cast iron sectional boiler, sometimes called a "pork chop boiler" the water is contained inside cast iron sections. These sections are assembled on site to create the finished boiler.

As you can clearly see there are a lot of boilers on the market. We could go into more detail, but the logical thing to do is call a professional when your boiler needs anything done. 

We are experts in commercial and residential boiler service. Whether you need an annual tune-up done or require a monthly service work, we are prepared to handle that for you

Call today to discuss your particular needs.