We moved to Montana in August 2018. We rented a classic old house that was built in 1920 something. February 2019 was the second coldest in history in Montana. The cold weather in Montana I expected. That part, I signed up for. On 01 February, the boiler in this classic old house went out. The boiler is the heart of an old school radiator heating system. We suddenly had no heat in the second coldest February in history in Montana. In normal years Dillon, Montana winter temps average 39° high and 17° low. February 2019 was quite a bit lower than that. Because we were renters we were at the mercy of the property manager and more importantly the property owner to address our problem. It took five days to get a new boiler ordered, delivered and installed.
On the evening before the new boiler was suppose to be lit off on heat restored, we were eating dinner when we heard a loud explosion. What the hell? We went into the dining room (eat were eating in the kitchen) to find one of the radiators had exploded. Radiator heating systems work by circulating hot water (typically about 180°) through the radiators which then radiate heat into the room. When the boiler does not work, that water is no longer heated. Some of you already see the problem here.
I did not grow up in Montana. I assume that people who do grow up in Montana know Montana things. So, when the boiler went out, I asked the Montana people, “do we need to put some space heaters on these radiators while we wait for the new boiler?” “No, they’ll be fine.” With no heat in the house the temperature in the house dropped below 32°. The water that remained in the radiators froze. The one radiator exploded, with a fairly large piece flying across the dining room. As my wife started cleaning up the water flowing out of the broken radiator and freezing in the floor, I went and checked the other radiators in the house. Every radiator on the first floor was cracked and leaking water. We did not notice this because the water leaking out froze and was nearly invisible as ice.
The following day the crew arrived to light off the boiler. As they headed down to the basement I caught them and said they probably ought to come look. The leader of this little crew called the boss.
“…you probably need to come over here. We have a problem.”
The property manager supplied us with a bunch of space heaters and the house has a pellet stove that keeps the kitchen warm. For the rest of February and in fact the winter we lived in about 500 square feet of the 3000 square foot house we were renting. We were given the option of breaking the lease but no one wants to hunt for housing and move in the middle of winter in Montana. So, we got a pretty good deal on the rent for the remaining winter months and stay in the house.
The property owner really did not want to pay the cost of replacing the radiators along with the boiler. As a result, there was a lot of deliberation about how to fix the heating system. The cast iron radiators are some what expensive and the shipping is very expensive. After several months of consideration it was decided to replace the large cast iron radiators that broke with relatively small base board style radiators. The base board radiator put out an order of magnitude less BTUs than the cast radiators.
The heating system was finally brought back on line in July 2019. Definitely one of our more interesting Montana experiences.