About half of Burke’s owner-occupied homes went up before 1980, and the typical one is from 1979. Those houses, mostly around Lake Braddock, are where you find hot water heat. In Burke Centre, built later, most homes use heat pumps or gas furnaces. So if your Burke house has radiators or baseboard, it is likely one of the older ones. The boiler is probably in a basement or a utility room, and it has been there a long time.
Washington Gas supplies most of Burke, so a boiler here usually burns natural gas. Propane is rare, under one in a hundred homes. Common failures in these older systems include the circulator pump, zone valves, or the expansion tank. These components wear out before the cast iron sections do. We identify the failing part, provide a written price after the $99 diagnostic, and repair it if that is the right move. The boiler is likely in a basement or utility room, and it has been there a long time.
If the old boiler vented up a chimney, the new one might need a chimney vent certification. A condensing unit exhausts through a side wall in white plastic pipe, rather than a chimney. In Burke Centre, the Conservancy wants that vent out of street view, on the rear or side. A new vent needs an approved application, but a same-spot, same-size swap does not. This is a different rule than the county permit.
We test the relief valve and listen to the pump. If the relief valve drips, the pressure is near 30 psi, and the expansion tank or fill valve may be the issue. We bleed it and check the fill. This is a common issue in older Burke homes.