Where are Burnham boilers built?
Burnham residential boilers come from U.S. Boiler Company, which builds them in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. U.S. Boiler belongs to Burnham Holdings, Inc., also in Lancaster, and another Burnham Holdings company, Casting Solutions in Zanesville, Ohio, pours the cast-iron sections. An older version of U.S. Boiler's website called the company America's manufacturer of Burnham products. The current site lists the same families under the U.S. Boiler Company name, so if you go looking for the manual for the Burnham in your basement, that's where it lives, for current and discontinued models alike.
That matters when you call us. The name on the jacket, the model on the rating plate and the manual all have to line up before we order parts, and a phone photo of the rating plate often saves a second trip.
What Burnham boiler is common in older Twin Cities houses?
The Burnham you're most likely to find in a pre-war house in Saint Paul or Minneapolis is a chimney-vented cast-iron boiler. On hot-water systems that's often a Series 2. U.S. Boiler still builds it at 84% AFUE in eight sizes, with standard tappings so it can drop in where an older boiler came out. The model number tells you the size: the digit after the 20 is the section count, so a 205E has five sections.
A current Series 2 carries a control with a three-digit readout for status and fault codes, a factory-installed IDL-1200 low-water cutoff, a vent damper and a resettable blocked vent switch. The no-heat calls we get on these boilers usually come down to a short list: a damper that won't prove open, a blocked vent switch that tripped because the chimney isn't drafting, spark ignition trouble, or a circulator that seized over the summer. A tripped blocked vent switch is a warning about exhaust, so we find out why before resetting it.
Steam houses get the Independence or the SteamMax. The Independence comes chimney-vented, or as the Independence PV with a draft-inducing fan for a house that has lost its usable chimney. On steam, we read the sight glass, flush and test the low-water cutoff, keep the pressure control low and replace vents that stick. If the pipes bang, our post on boiler banging and kettling noises explains the usual causes.
Alpine, Aspen and Alta condensing boilers
For a move to condensing, U.S. Boiler's current choices are the Alpine, the Aspen and the Alta, all built around stainless steel heat exchangers. The Alta comes as a heating-only boiler or as a combi that also makes domestic hot water, and its OneTouch control sets combustion by itself and adapts to propane without a kit. U.S. Boiler still posts manuals for discontinued models such as the K2, K2 Combi, ESC, PVG and Revolution, which helps when we meet an older one.
Condensing boilers vent through plastic pipe and drain acidic condensate. In a Minnesota winter two things shut them down: a sidewall vent terminal frosted over or buried in a drift, and a condensate line that freezes where it runs along a cold wall. They also hate dirty water. An old radiator loop carries decades of sludge, so on a replacement we plan for flushing and a dirt separator before the new heat exchanger sees that water. Moving off a chimney-vented boiler can also leave the water heater alone in an oversized chimney that needs a liner, and we put that on the quote from the start.
Radiators, heat pumps and cooling
U.S. Boiler still makes cast-iron radiators (the Radiant, Slenderized and Classic) and Baseray cast-iron baseboard, rated for water or steam. That helps when a radiator cracks, or when a remodeled room needs more heat without changing the whole system.
Burnham Holdings is also building electric equipment: the Ambient electric boiler and an air-to-water heat pump, developed in a Lancaster lab whose cold room simulates temperatures down to -20°F. U.S. Boiler's engineers say the heat pump keeps running down to -13°F and recommend a dual-fuel setup in cold climates, with a boiler taking over on the coldest nights. The idea matches the furnace version in our post on dual fuel heating in Minnesota. Boiler houses have no ducts for air conditioning, so summer cooling usually means ductless mini-splits.
Repair or replace, and booking
A cast-iron Burnham with sound sections and a working burner is usually worth repairing. We lean toward replacement when a section leaks, when parts for an old model are gone, or when repairs keep stacking up on a boiler past its expected life. We install new U.S. Boiler equipment where it fits the house, size every replacement to the home's heat loss and radiation rather than the old nameplate, and pull the mechanical permit. If you're comparing cast-iron brands, see our Weil-McLain service page, and our boiler and radiant heat page covers how we work on hydronic systems in general.
Call 612-429-3465 from 7am to 9pm, seven days a week. Homes without heat get priority. A service call is a $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair, and the price is written and fixed before we start. Completed repairs carry our 1-year parts-and-labor warranty, and installs carry a 2-year labor warranty on top of the manufacturer's parts warranty.
Burnham questions
Who makes Burnham boilers now?
U.S. Boiler Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Burnham Holdings, Inc. An older version of U.S. Boiler's website called the company America's manufacturer of Burnham products. Today its site lists the lineup under the U.S. Boiler Company name, including the Series 2, Independence, Alpine and Alta, and it posts manuals for current and discontinued boilers alike.
What do the numbers on a Burnham Series 2 mean?
On U.S. Boiler's Series 2 data sheet the models run from 202E to 209E, and the digit after the 20 matches the number of cast-iron sections. A 204E has four sections and a 209E has nine. More sections means more output, from 38 to 276 MBH input across the range. The rating plate on your boiler has the exact model and serial number.
Can you fix a Burnham steam boiler that bangs or leaves radiators cold?
Usually, and the fix is often in the piping rather than the boiler. Banging tends to come from water trapped in a pipe that lost its pitch or a water level set too high. Cold radiators usually point to stuck main or radiator vents. We also read the sight glass, flush and test the low-water cutoff, and set the pressure control where it belongs.
Do I need to register a new Burnham boiler?
Do it. U.S. Boiler's current residential warranty asks owners to register online within ten days of installation. It says skipping that won't void the warranty, but registration is how the company keeps claims moving, and the coverage belongs to the original owner. Terms differ by model, so read your certificate. We leave you the model, serial number and install date after any replacement.
Can a heat pump work with my Burnham boiler?
It can, with limits. U.S. Boiler's Ambient air-to-water heat pump heats water for radiators or floor tubing, and the company sells a dual-fuel kit that hands the job to a boiler in cold weather. Its engineers say the unit keeps running down to -13°F, so in Minnesota the boiler still carries the coldest nights. Radiant floors and other low-temperature systems suit it best.
Sources
- Burnham official site usboiler.net