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[GCTerpfan]

I posted this in the General Discussion Forum but I will add it here to see if I get a response:

I recently inherited a 1996 Central Boiler OWB, after asking some questions on this site and several others I was able to get it up and operating about 3 weeks ago.  It has been heating my DHW ever since with no issues and everything seems to be operating fine.

This leads me to the next topic I need to learn about and that is maintenance.  A little background on this furnace, it is a '96 model CB 17 (I think). It holds 170 gallons of water.  It was purchased used by my father and hooked up "temporarily" for two years at my grandfathers.  My grandfather was in poor health and couldn't afford to continue heating with fuel oil.  My father and uncle burned it year round for two years heating the house and DHW until my grandfather passed away.  Other than adding water conditioner, there was little to no maintenance done in that two years, and we have no idea what maintenance was done prior.  The fire box does appear to have one patch welded on the side and it did develop a leak in a different location when my uncle forgot to shut the door after stoking the fire and boiled the furnace over.  He welded that leak shut and it has held for a little over a year now.  It has a taco 009 pump that I believe is original but I don't know that for sure. I added a water conditioner that I found on line at fill up.

I know this furnace isn't going to last forever but I am interested in doing anything I can to make it last as long as possible.  Do you guys have any suggestions, tips, tricks to keep this thing in the best possible condition?

[woodywoodchucker]

Not much to do to it. test your water once a year and when u do shut down clean it and cover the stack.

[GCTerpfan]

Thanks, I thought that was all there is to it. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything that would cause problems.

[Roger2561]

I have a Central Boiler Eclassic 1400 (gasser) and cleaning is essentially making sure all of the welds/corners in the firebox are clear of creosote buildup (anything that has creosote on it I scrape clean).  Once I'm satisfied that I've done what I could to be sure the creosote is gone, I saturate every surface of the firebox with oil.  I put a bucket on the stack and shut the door to let it hibernate for the summer.  The one thing I forgot to do this summer (remodeling the house) was once a month run the circ pump to exercise it.  Roger