I have an old steam furnace. I don't know much about them except they are made from iron and sometimes need to be cleaned? How frequently should I be cleaning? I saw some you tube videos where they had glass water gauges and such, I don't have one of those. Is there anything special I should be looking for to identify issues? Also, how long do cast iron pipes last? I have a feeling the ones in my house are from the 50s. Is that bad? Should I start thinking about how to replace them as preventative measures? Yes, they are hella rusty, at least in the outside.
Is this a boiler, radiator style system? They generally last a very long time, but I'm not familiar with the maintenance requirements. I've only lived in one house that had a boiler system, nice like wood heat, but not necessarily efficient. $.02
furnace uses air boiler uses water If it's a boiler and has exhaust/heat exchanger tubes they should get cleaned out once a year. Gaskets checked, look for leaks, etc. cast iron pipes sounds like you might have a converted steam boiler like I had in my old house ( it was oil fired though). Still had the big old steam pipes but they only carried hot water after the conversion. I used to check the radiator water levels every Fall to make sure there was no air in the radiators. Bleeder key. If you have the old stand up radiators with a shut off valve the packing in the valve can go bad. They drip and you might never see it unless you look real close. The pipes should last forever if there are no leaks and they stay dry. Mine were painted black though - no rust.
