What happens if install a Buderus GB142

Charlie from wmass

properly and it does not get cleaned for 6 years? I will tell you. It gets hit with lightening. I was dreading the day I finally got the no heat call on this boiler and it came during the biggest heat wave in a decade, no domestic hot water. I expected to find a clogged even leaking heat exchanger, I found a nice clean one. Spritz of water and it was like new. The drain was clear and no blockage, residue in the trap was almost nothing. That is the good news. The bad news was the UBA3 was toast, when that was replaced it let me know the fan was shot. When that was replaced I found the AM10 was out of commission. Due to parts availability and communication break downs it too four days to get the heat back on line, the hot water was back on the next day.

The reason I am writing is I strongly believe the Aluminum boiler is being black listed the same way the gasketed cast iron boiler has been. The boiler is not the issue, the bad installation  and installer is the problem.

I see boilers dead every day due to bad installations. Even 100 year old installations.

kcopp

I do believe...

you are correct. I cleaned an WM Ultra last fall after 3+ yrs of running and it looked pretty new. Water chemistry of what it is filled w/ is a big part of it too. I am starting to use the Bosch Greenstar for my competitive models. That actually don't want you to pull the HX apart for 5 years for cleaning....

Jean-David Beyer

I cleaned an WM Ultra

I have an Ulltra 3, but I have it cleaned every year (part of annual service). I watch because I am interested. It seems very clean each time. The tech replaces the igniter each time, even though the instructions just say to check it. But one comes with the maintenance kit, and why not put the new one in? Also, it is probably cheaper than coming back when the old one would have quit on New Year's Eve. I guess the air supply does not sniff in too much of the exhaust.



The first year there seemed to be a little alumiinum in the condensate trap, but the technician had it analyzed and it was not much. Since then there did not seem to be any.



As far as the water side of that aluminum heat exchanger, I have finished with the fourth winter. I do not know what that side of the heat exchanger looks like now, but I check the pH every summer, and it is within spec. They put Sentinel X-100 in there, and check it at maintenance time. Sometimes it does not need to be topped up, and once it did, probably because I had a circulator replaced and they had to purge the whole upstairs heating zone, and it took quite a bit to push the air from up there down to the purge valve. Checking the concentration is easy, but after adding new X-100, you have to wait a few days before you can be sure it is well mixed.



That aluminum heat exchanger looks like a pin-type boiler section (not the geometry, but the basic idea). I worry if they will burn off, but I guess if they are clean enough they conduct the heat to the water quickly enough that they do not get too hot. I hope it is not dissolving away from the water side, but I cannot tell that.  Perhaps a chemical analysis of the water for aluminum salts would reveal that, but I have never heard of doing that.