What is 'non- proprietary'?
Nonproprietary parts are components often used by many manufacturers. These parts are common to boilers and can be located locally at wholesalers and distributors not affiliated with the manufacturer. An example of a nonproprietary part would be a Honeywell Flame safeguard. The RM7800 series controls are available everywhere and used by most combustion burner manufacturers as a matter of standard. When the part is nonproprietary, it is typically priced fairly because of built in competition. Due to specific design criteria and product development, some parts must be proprietary, such as exchangers sized for a specific cabinet.
A proprietary part is one manufactured or modified specifically by a manufacturer for their equipment. These components are not typically available as competitively because they are normally distributed by the manufacturer directly or protected for their local representatives.
Some examples of proprietary parts are:
Tubes for a flex-tube boiler (Bryan, Cleaverbrooks, Unilux). While straight boiler tubes are available at local pipe houses for around $3 per foot, these tubes can run as much as $250 for a single tube. Why? Because you can't buy them anywhere else. What can your customer do if his boiler is down and needs a new tube? He will pay the price!
Controls such as the Cleaverbrooks HAWK are modified Honeywell controls that obligate the customer to purchase the replacement from Cleaverbrooks or a CB representative. A standard control however, because of the modifications, will not operate on the Cleaverbrooks unit without some intensive modifications. Even then, there is a liability to changing the 'manufacturer's design' so most will simply pay whatever price the manufacturer wants to charge for such a control.
When considering a life cycle analysis of costs, one must consider the replacement parts cost for the customer. There are many manufacturers such as Ajax, RBI, Triad, and Smith that strive to use 'standard' over the counter components for easy, competitive, and fast replacement. RME favors such manufacturers and concentrates more on the simple serviceability of these products for local contractors and the end users.