My Central Boiler was a CL4436.It was installed 10/01/02 and performed well for 7 years.It began to leak from the water jacket into the fire box.I had an excellent welder (he welds nuclear plants) come weld it and it worked until Nov.2010.At that time he tried every trick he knew but he couldn't get the leaks stopped.I finally gave up and turned on the propane at $300/month.
I noticed a year or so earlier that the new Nitrite test kit I ordered suggested a much higher Nitrite level which I adhered to. The original kit that came with the furnace suggested 1000 to 1500 PPM and the new kit suggested up to 3000 PPM.My PH stays about 8.5 right from the well.I had been maintaining the Nitrite levels at 1200 ppm for about 6 or 7 years and this may have been the root cause of the problem.
I called Nevin Eiker,my dealer two times and he was going to talk to his factory rep.and get back to me with a discount on a new furnace.When neither Nevin nor the sales dept. returned my calls,I decided I was being avoided and decided to bite the bullet and heat with propane for the remainder of the winter.
Nevin told me he had sold 40 furnaces in his territory the past winter and I suspect I was not the only one having trouble since so many had been sold.The thought also crossed my mind that Central Boiler may have bought some Chinese steel in an effort to boost profits but I doubt that will ever be known.
The prorated warranty of CB is 8 years and that would not leave much money to make a customer whole again;not that they would care enough to do it.--------shorman