Print

[E Yoder]

I would agree with RSI.

[savebigmny]

Thanks for the advice guys.  I did find that my water level sight tube is dripping.  I'm going to use some pipe nipples to extend it away from the heat a few inches and then use silicone tubing.  It seems to be a drip every couple seconds which could add up to a significant amount of water.  It was hard to see because it evaporates so quickly.  I'm going to let the fire go out on Saturday and use a bottle of CF205 cleaner from altheatsupply.com and then refill and add the right amount of their A200 Corrosion inhibitor.  So I will fix the leaking sight tube then and also look for any other possible problems.

[savebigmny]

Found my leak, the sight tube was leaking so I addressed that.  The clear tubing that was used was not good enough at high temperatures so it got hard and brittle.  I extended the sight tube away from the water jacket by 4" with some pipe nipples.  And then also used silicone tubing which should be much more heat resistant.

Then i found the real leak.  On top of the baffle near the back was a rusted spot that was just dripping but once I cleaned it up with a wire brush I found one tiny hole and one about 1/4" and an area that was about 1"x6" that was rusted down pretty thin.  It looks like it started at least 1/4" thick steel.  It had no cover on the chimney when I bought the house so it was getting water in the top and this is right where it would puddle.

First I tried high temp JB weld that comes in a little jar that says good to 2400F.  It said cures in 2-4 hours at room temperature.  So I wire brushed it clean, wiped it down with brake cleaner and then smeared it on.  It is more of a paste which worked well and didn't drip through the holes.  I kept it warm for 4 hours until it felt hard and then refilled the boiler.  At first it held but within minutes it was leaking bad.   

I kept the fire going to get some heat back in the house and let it go out by next morning.  Once I got in there I discovered that the stuff "unset" I don't know what to call it.  It turned right back to the paste it started as and wiped right off.  So I cleaned it all off and used some original JB weld which says it's good to 550F and being on the water jacket up high I doubt it will get that hot, it does not face the flames.  Of course that drips through holes so i used some coated screws with a washer type head stuck through the two holes and then covered them with more.  I spread a decent layer in the rusted thin area.  And then kept it around 80F with a space heater  for 24 hours.  I'm past 24 hours now but I won't fill it and start it until this evening after work.

I'm sure others have done this.  Will it hold?  The only way to access for welding a new piece in would be to first cut a hole in the bottom of the baffle, or possible to take the roof apart and cut the chimney off and reach down from the top and then reweld the chimney on after.  Picture shows an arrow to where the leak was.

[E Yoder]

I feel for you, that's a tough place to get to if you need to weld. Hope the JB weld works.

[savebigmny]

So far so good.  I filled with water and started a fire last night.  No leaks so far.  I stuck my arm down the chimney when it was burning hard and the spot with the JB weld was only about 330 F so well within the 550 F rating.  Actually all over inside the firebox the metal wasn't that hot.  I think the firebox is 1/4", the water just pulls the heat away well.  I turned down the temp just a little, it's on at 170 off at 180.  Which my White Rodgers aquastat numbers are useless because it indicates about 30 degrees low compared to my drywell thermometer and temp gun readings.

[savebigmny]

Still no problems.  It sure uses a lot less wood now...  Which makes sense.  About 10 gallons of water x 8lbs is 80 lbs of water.  970 BTU/lb to flash into steam means almost 80k Btu's a day wasted.

[savebigmny]

JB weld is holding fine.  I'm loving the wood heat.  My house is from 2013 and is all 2x6 walls and well insulated.  I have the basement floor running on medium speed with the mixing valve as low as it goes which is about 90F.  We typically need 2-3 windows cracked open to keep the house below 75.  I've never needed the furnace blower to run although some radiant comes from the furnace HX anyway because it constantly circulates.  Conveniently it is directly under the master bathroom so the floor is nice and toasty.  And the potable water is super hot as well.  The plate HX heats the well water to 155 on the way into the tank at a flow rate of about 2-3gpm, that brought the electric bill down significantly.

[Radio Tech1964]

I had a drain valve to decide to start leaking about mid winter last year and a drop or two adds up to a bunch of water loss. It iced over but being it was hot it still dripped.. Rigged up a plug on the puppy till this season