Leaking Steamer Boiler

[guest]

Yeah, if its below the fill line, they hiss because the water is hitting the burner tubes and their hot as h***. As the leak gets bigger, it starts dripping and is easier to find. When its above the water line, all you get is the sound. If you find any wet insulation and its not any pipe fittings, its usually the kiss of death.

When buying a boiler base, Cleveland used to have two prices. One was a standard boiler, the second was a boiler with a higher nickel content. They usually last a lot longer. If you decide to replace it try to get a boiler with a higher nickel content. Also ask for the boiler replacement kit. It will come with all the fittings that come out of the boiler, new sight glass etc. (except one pipe plug) The old ones will usually get wrecked, trying to take them out.

The boiler comes out from the back. When I was doing them under warranty, it would take about 5 hrs., start to finish. First time, add a couple of hours for…… “that’s gotta come off too”?!?!

[olivero]

Thank you for all the replys.

 

We ended up pulling the boiler today and sure enough, a 1/4″ hole in the top right corner (facing the boiler) 

 

Noticed some other hairline cracks in the heat tubes but nothing otherwise major. 

Figured we might as well give it a go on repairing the 1/4″ hole so we welded it shut again, put everything back together.

 

Don’t hear any hissing or anything indicating the leak wasn’t patched. Still going to replace the boiler but at least this will keep it going for some time, luckily its only a 5-10 PSI boiler. I’ve done 60 PSI and higher stuff for water without it leaking so I figured it couldn’t get much worse than it was.

 

Thank you for all the input.

[fixbear]

Still wish you had Hydro’ed it after repair.

[olivero]

Hydro’ed?

[fixbear]

I’m sorry,  the process of pressurizing a vessel to stress with no compressible liquid to safely prove it’s soundness and safety.

[olivero]

Ah. 

 

Well, its only going to be temporary, the nickel plated steel is not all that fun to weld so all we wanted to achieve is patch the bigger hole. I still saw some hairline cracks in the heat tubes as everyone was expecting so the boiler won’t last forever, I just need it to last a bit longer so I can get a new one.

[fixbear]

Was it the nickel,  or the scale inside that made it hard.  Gotta love sputtering and flying molten metal.  Let alone the toxic fumes from the nickel.  I always hated Manganese and Galvanized.

[olivero]

I think it was the nickel but could’ve been both. Old, rusted through metal just doesen’t weld that well, sometimes its like chasing a keyhole where you try to close it and the edge just keeps burning in. This was more sputtering and lack of actual mixing of the metals that made it tricky but with enough cleaning it worked out.

 

Galvanized is horrible, smells horribly toxic too. The weird zinc cobwebs that it generates.