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Author Topic: Repair of door mating surface question  (Read 9596 times)

savebigmny

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Repair of door mating surface question
« on: September 12, 2019, 08:39:48 AM »

Hi, I bought a house with what I think is about a 6 year old Cadillac 3600 OWB.  The one corner of the opening that the door gasket closes against is corroded and thin.  I am guessing the door gasket had a leak which caused this but maybe someone else has a better idea.

My question is would there be any problem with building it back up by welding and grinding to get it back close to the original shape?

My other question is maybe a dumb one but there is a blower in the filling door and also one in the ash removal door down below that appears to blow air up through the grate.  Are those supposed to run at the same time or staged?  Any other boilers like that?  The wiring looks to have been tinkered with and I want to make sure it is set up how it was supposed to be.  The company closed down that was making them so I can't find much info.
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mlappin

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2019, 09:50:58 AM »

The thin spots can be built up or just cut em out and replace with new steel.

I know nothing of your brand, is there a schematic or wiring diagram on the stove or in the manual (if you have one)?
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2019, 10:54:39 AM »

No manuals or schematic on anything unfortunately.  I will have to take some pictures, it seems like a very heavy duty unit I saw another one at someones house about 10 miles from me, I might have to stop by and see if he has a manual.

Thanks for the comment on welding, it's a pretty small area so i will break out the Hobart and see what I can do.  Not sure why it corroded away there, is that typical if the door gasket is leaking or does it mean something else?
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wreckit87

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2019, 03:17:33 PM »

I'm not familiar with that model, but most others utilize a single fan either in the door, or in the back that blows up through the grates sp having both is interesting. Crown Royal uses an updraft through the grates with a "turbo draft" that's basically tubes with holes drilled in them over the top of the fire blowing down at the same time the air is coming up so it may be similar to what you have going on. Too much air isn't usually a good thing as it will push more heat out the chimney instead of into your water, but not saying 2 air sources is bad. I think the 2 fans could be very beneficial, if tinkered with and balanced for optimal burn. Is there a rheostat somewhere on the unit to adjust fan speed? A few pictures of the boiler would be awesome, if possible
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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2019, 02:52:35 AM »

I would think both fans would need to come on together or else the top would become a chimney if it's off. I'm guessing it has a simple aquastat that cycles the fan(s) based on water temp?
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2019, 06:31:36 AM »

Thanks for the replies.  I found out a little more information, I was browsing craigslist and happened to see an OWB that looked exactly like mine but had "Johnson" branding.  I thought maybe they bought out or took over the Cadillac brand so I found their website and called.  https://johnsonoutdoorwoodfurnaces.com/index.html  Howard the owner was very helpful and told me what actually happened is a former employee pretty much took the design and started making them on his own which is the Cadillac brand.  In spite of that he was quite helpful.

He told me that yes both fans should run at the same time when the aquastat calls for heat, the second aquastat in the back should be set at 200 as a high temp cutout.  Also that I am lucky mine was before the Cadillac brand ones switched to a digital controller because the one that was installed had a lot of failures and is no longer available.  I believe the fans are 70cfm each.  They are Dayton blowers with flaps over the inlet to block air when shut off.  He also thought building the rusted spot up with weld and grinding it smooth would be the best approach.  He has a fairly small operation, he said he builds about 75-80 units a year.

I will have to take some pictures.
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2019, 10:42:53 AM »

I got this fixed up last night, here are a few before and after pictures.  And some pictures of the boiler in general.  Next year summerization I will make sure it is dry inside and spray it down with some Fluid Film or oil.  The welding isn't beautiful, just a Hobart 120V with flux core wire.
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2019, 10:46:41 AM »

More pictures, I don't quite understand how the baffle thing in the top works.  There is a part that moves back and forth when I pull the handle out the front of the stove.  You can see the rod in the picture of top.  Also is water in the flat part that crosses the top?
« Last Edit: October 22, 2019, 10:48:20 AM by savebigmny »
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2019, 10:48:06 AM »

Last couple pics, and also 2 of my 3 little helpers  :)
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E Yoder

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #9 on: October 24, 2019, 02:46:34 AM »

More pictures, I don't quite understand how the baffle thing in the top works.  There is a part that moves back and forth when I pull the handle out the front of the stove.  You can see the rod in the picture of top.  Also is water in the flat part that crosses the top?
I'm assuming it has a smoke baffle that slides open and closed. Closed sends the smoke the long way around to go out the chimney, pulling the rod let's it go straight out when loading.
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2019, 01:51:47 PM »

More pictures, I don't quite understand how the baffle thing in the top works.  There is a part that moves back and forth when I pull the handle out the front of the stove.  You can see the rod in the picture of top.  Also is water in the flat part that crosses the top?
I'm assuming it has a smoke baffle that slides open and closed. Closed sends the smoke the long way around to go out the chimney, pulling the rod let's it go straight out when loading.

Ahh, thank you.  That makes sense.
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #11 on: October 28, 2019, 01:10:29 PM »

I filled the unit with water on Friday night and fired it up.  I saw a little water but thought it was condensation so I started the fire.  After a couple hours it warmed up, I have it set to on at 180 off at 190.  It seems to burn nicely with very little smoke, burning some white ash that has been dead standing I assume a few years.

I got the basement slab warming nicely, it took a couple days to get heated up. 

Bad news, I noticed the water was down a little on Sunday morning and added about 12 gallons to fill it back to full.  I'm pretty sure I can see a drip once in a while from the top baffle area inside the firebox.  The stove is only around 6 years old as far as I can tell.  But when we bought the house in June it hadn't been used for the whole previous season because the people got divorced and the lady just used the LP furnace.  Well it still had a load of half burned wood in it and the chimney wasn't covered so it was pretty much festering soggy mess for over a year.

How bad is it to just keep topping the water off for now?  I realize I am not going to be as efficient because I am losing 970 BTU for every pound of water leaked into the firebox evaporating.  But am I going to make it worse?  I need to let it go out and inspect with my scope camera to see exactly where the problem is.  I hope it isn't in some unreachable area up above the baffle thing.  :(
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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2019, 03:13:18 AM »

I wouldn't see it as doing much more damage for a few days of burning- but you don't want to tackle a repair mid-winter. Access up in the top might be a challenge judging by the pictures.
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savebigmny

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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2019, 12:35:38 PM »

What about instead of a few days i run it through the winter just keeping it topped off?

Yes I agree access might be challenging, depending on where I might have to cut off the chimney and reach down from the top and then weld the chimney back on.  No fun either way.
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Re: Repair of door mating surface question
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2019, 09:32:40 PM »

Since you found a possible leak, I would check that out but running at 190 could be boiling it out. That is cutting the buffer  to the boiling point kind of close. If there is any air leak, it could be boiling at random times depending on how the cycles and loads line up.
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