Old Gas Boilers and the Steam That Came Before Them
A Dedham house from the 1920s or 1930s was very often heated by steam, and plenty still are. Others were converted to hot water, or to forced air, at some point in the last fifty years, and the conversion is usually where the interesting problems live.
Steam is unforgiving of small things and forgiving of nothing else. A radiator valve that is partly closed does not give partial heat, it blocks condensate and then blocks steam, so the room stays cold while the rest of the house is fine. The air vents on the mains, sized in an era when a boiler ran long and steady, are frequently too small for a boiler that now cycles. Water level that swings tells you the boiler needs skimming rather than replacing, and that is a job with a real method rather than a quick drain.
On the converted systems, the giveaway is piping that does not match the equipment: an old gravity hot water layout with oversized mains feeding a modern boiler that was never meant to see that volume, or a zone added for an addition that quietly starves the zone next to it. We read the system before touching it. The heating page covers what we work on, and the no heat page covers the order we work in when the house is cold now.
Dedham Westwood Water, and Where the Real Problem Usually Is
Dedham’s water comes from the Dedham Westwood Water District, which serves Dedham and Westwood and is partly supplied by the MWRA.
The distinction that matters to a homeowner is the same one everywhere in this area: what the district is responsible for stops at the curb, and nearly every complaint we are called about lives inside the house. In a town where three in ten homes predate 1940, the oldest pipe in the building is usually inside a wall, and galvanized supply that has been in service since before the war narrows from the inside until the far fixtures give up whenever anything else runs.
Long before that is a pressure problem it is a corrosion problem, and a corroding line inside a plaster wall is how a ceiling gets ruined. If the water has ever run rusty first thing in the morning, that is worth a look rather than a shrug. The leak repair page is the place to start.
Knowing Your Own Shut Off Before You Need It
In most Dedham houses the main shut off is in the basement on the street side wall, near the meter. In the older houses around Dedham Square and East Dedham it can be behind a later finish, in a closet, or under the stairs, because the basement was divided up after the valve was installed.
The single most useful thing any homeowner here can do is find it on a dry afternoon and confirm it actually closes. A valve that has not moved in twenty years often will not, and the moment to discover that is not while water is coming through a ceiling. If yours weeps around the stem when you try it, leave it alone and call (617) 549-5734; that is a small job now and a flooded basement later.
The Neighborhoods, and Why the Job Changes Across Town
Dedham is not uniform, and the difference is mechanical rather than cosmetic. Dedham Square and East Dedham hold the oldest stock, with the steam, the cast iron and the galvanized supply that comes with it. Oakdale, Riverdale and Greenlodge are largely postwar, which means the first generation of copper, original valves now at the end of their service life, and boilers on their second replacement. Endicott and the Precinct Five area near the Legacy Place district bring the commercial side in.
That commercial work is its own thing. A retail or office building has pressures, code requirements and a tolerance for downtime that a house does not, and it is covered on the commercial page. The same crew does both, which is why a property manager with a building and a house does not need two numbers.
Hot Water in a Gas Town
With gas in two thirds of Dedham homes, most hot water here is either a gas storage heater or a tankless coil running off the boiler. They fail differently and they get confused constantly.
A storage heater reaching the end of its life recovers more slowly every month until someone notices the second shower is cold. A tankless coil scales up, and the symptom is hot water that is fine for two minutes and then lukewarm, regardless of how long you wait. The second one is a heating system question wearing a plumbing question’s clothes, which is exactly the kind of thing a shop working both trades can tell you without a second visit. The water heaters page covers what we install and service.
For Your Home
Plumbing, drains, water heaters, heating and cooling in houses, three deckers and condos, which is the housing this area is actually made of.
See Residential ServicesFor Your Building
The same trades planned around a building that has to keep working while you fix it, and written down afterwards for whoever has to be told.
See Commercial Services
Three Deckers, Two Families and Old Boilers
Quincy and Dorchester are built out of three deckers, century old two families and apartment buildings that have been added to for decades. The plumbing and the heating in them grew up together, and a basement full of copper, cast iron and a boiler older than the people living upstairs is the ordinary day here.
That is the work Casper does. Licensed technicians and permits pulled where the work calls for them, on a kitchen sink in Milton, a no heat call from a landlord in Dorchester, or the water heater replacement in a Braintree storefront.
Questions We Hear
Does Casper Work in Dedham?
Yes. Dedham is about nine and a half miles from the shop in Quincy and sits at the western end of the area the trucks run. Call (617) 549-5734 or send the details through the contact page.
One Radiator Is Cold and the Rest of the House Is Warm. What Is That?
On a steam system that is very often a valve that is partly closed rather than fully open or fully shut, which blocks condensate and then blocks steam. It is also one of the few heating problems with a genuinely simple answer, so it is worth checking before anything else.
My Water Runs Rusty First Thing in the Morning. Is That the Town?
Usually not. Water sitting overnight in old galvanized supply inside the house picks up what the pipe is shedding. It is a house side problem, it gets worse rather than better, and it is a corrosion problem before it becomes a pressure problem.
The Hot Water Goes Lukewarm After Two Minutes. Do I Need a New Water Heater?
Maybe not. If the hot water runs off the boiler through a tankless coil, that symptom points at the coil rather than at a water heater, and the fix is a different job entirely. It is worth finding out which one you have before anyone quotes you equipment.
Do You Work on Commercial Buildings in Dedham?
Yes, both trades, residential and commercial. The commercial page covers what that involves.