What Do I Do If Boiler Is In A Flooded Basement?

Basement floods are the most costly repairs the home owners. Floods in the basement destroy all the furniture, electrical appliances and other things present inside the basement. Basement floods occur due to heavy rains, frozen pipes, leaky pumps or any other reasons. Boilers are normally placed in the basement. If your boiler or burner is submerged inside the water either partially or fully, do not try to operate. The boilers shouldn’t be operated until they are totally replaced or completely repaired.

What to do?

Before doing anything think of your safety first it is necessary to turn off the electricity of your basement. If you can’t do it call an electrician to help in turning off the electricity.

Check the drain of your basement the flood can cause damage to the drainage system. Check the sump pump and make sure that it is working properly before you start removing the water out.

The basement should be dried as quickly as possible to avoid the growth of mold. Start the dehumidifier to absorb the water from the basement.

If the water has made any contact with the boiler it should be replaced completely even if some parts of the system are damaged complete boiler should be replaced because the water reaches the different components of your system. So replace all the controls, gas valves and electrical wiring of your boiler.

All the electrical components such as safety valves, water cutoffs should be replaced, as they may be corroded making the device unreliable. Do not try to restart the boiler until it has been completely inspected and repaired by the HVAC technician.

Inspect all burner tubes, gas piping, manifolds, orifices, and flue ways for signs of rust and/or sediment from the flood waters. For oil-fired boilers replace all the oil burners.

If you own a large commercial burner it is advisable to replace the burner completely, instead of replacing its components it would cost you more.

The water tanks are situated near the boiler it is necessary to check these water tanks periodically as they hold up to 50 gallons of water which is good enough to destroy your boiler.

After the water damage the insulation's reduce their insulating capacity and can cause fire to the system. So replace the all the insulation's.

At last replace any venting which is been corroded to prevent your house from gas leak.