Repair of Cast Iron Boiler Leak

Al Letellier_9

Most of the products out there are temporary in nature. You may get a year out of it, but as mentioned in the other post, at the age of your boiler, think long about replacing it...well worth the investment

JJJJJ

I have an American Standard G-606 cast iron boiler which is leaking and leaving a puddle. It was installed in 1967. In my searching on the internet, I have come across a few products for repairing boiler leaks:

- Hercules Chemical Co.: Boiler Liquid
Boiler Solder

- Silver King Manufacturing Co.: Safe Boiler Stop Leak
Boiler Solder

- J-B Weld

Does anyone know of any other repair compounds or methods?

How effective are these for cast iron boiler repair? How long should I expect the use of any of these to stop a leak?

keith

1967

Replace it.

38 years old it has served you well.

With the price of fuel these day's the payback will be excellent.

Keith

Joe Grosso

In your other post

you mentioned the leak was near the return line connection. Are you sure the leak is in the boiler section itself, or could it be the return pipe near where it connects to the boiler?

mike jones

repair boiler leak

can any seal a large crack, probably from bad super adding cold water to old boiler while hot? we literally can not replace till new years and it will be cold in ny.

our plumber would like to take the top facing off our old american stnadard boiler to seal a leak above the water line from the top with pro poxy 20. We wanted to make sure since we won't have our new boiler for another month, does
anyone know if the top facing can be replaced back on top with the proper seal since it looks like he will be dismantaling and retaching an exhaust stack where it meets the top of the boiler.

mike jones

seal a leak above the water line

did you have any luck? please see our new post below or we'd be happy to email it to you.

sidney r. bray

Boiler Leak

I heard recently that "oatmeal" is a remedy that works, yes the stuff you eat in the morning...this from a contractor in the local area...my boiler leaks and I tried some of the remedies you mentioned, none of which worked...don't know what to think of that one...would the particles eventually work its way into the system once you drain it out of the boiler??

Brad White_9

Oatmeal


Yup. It can work for a few days until the new boiler gets there. It is only a temporary "fix" while waiting for the real one.

I attended the funeral for a friend's grand-mother many years ago. She passed away from a major heart attack at the plucky age of 77. After the attendees of the service had all been seated and we were waiting for the actual service to begin, her husband of 50+ years announced in a rather loud voice that, "She'd still be alive today if she ate Fig Newtons like me!" (He later thanked the Pastor for, "The best G-ddamned service I ever heard!")

That was ol' Ted. Ol' Ted had an cure for EVERY ailement known to mankind. Cancer??? Ted had the cure. You simply put a pile of cigarette ashes over the afflicted area(s), apply coarse ground black pepper and then crack an egg on top of all of it. Could take up to 11 days, but the cancer would be gone. I SWEAR I am NOT making this up.

Ol' Ted used pepper in nearly all of his remedies. In fact, I know that pepper was also used by some of the old timers to "fix" boiler leaks, car radiator leaks etc........ just like a piece of stale bread(Pumpernicle is my fav) stuffed into a water line will stop a drip long enough to solder a fitting on the pipe.

Now Ol' Ted was crazy as a loon if you haven't guessed that by now, but he sincerely believed everything he said. He once told me about the time he shot a "Ruskie" MiG fighter out of the sky with a "muzkit" that had a 7 foot long barrel. He also captured the pilot and "interrogated" him for several days before handing him over to the Pentagon. (GOD I miss Ted!)

Point is there are MANY "fixes" on the market today that will limp your old system into another season. Maybe.

Steamhead may be 100% correct that it is NOT the boiler but only a pipe connecting to the boiler that is comprimised. I've seen MANY instances where this is exactly what happened. Unfortunately, if the leak has gone long enough, the threaded portion of the cast section is probably shot as well. Even if it isn't, the odds of being able to remove that pipe from the boiler without doing damage to the boiler are pretty slim.

Ask yourself this question. IF, after a technician "repairs" my boiler, it leaks from a new place. Will the technician be at fault? Will I be entitled to a new boiler, free of charge?

I'll bet money that, other than the structure, the boiler is the only other original "occupier" of the house.







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mike jones

steam boiler leak

ouch, i'm a HO but be careful. i've been told that OATMEAL is actually boiler solder, so dont eat it in the am. and it should not be drained as it can clog your system. sounds like these remedies may not have been applied properly. there's a tech number on bottle. HAS ANYONE HAD ANY LUCK WITH HERCULES ABOVE WATER LINE???

BC

YES

I needed to get my boiler to limp through the season while I bring my geo system online. My leak was right at the waterline - I could run the boiler with the water just below the leak but it didn't give much of a safety margin so I decided to try the boiler liquid. As the directions say, I got everything hot, CAREFULLY removed the relief valve and poured the gunk in. I then raised the water line above the leak, much higher than I usually run it and fired the boiler for a while. The repair has been holding so far. If it lasts a couple more months, I'll be happy.

I am a little worried about the stop leak affecting the relief valve or LWCO. I've been testing them more frequently to make sure they're working.

BAB

Short Term Boiler Repair

I had a 20+ year old boiler in need of a leak repair. I repaired with 1/4 thick steel plates cut to size, held in place with wedges, nuts, bolts & clamps. Had every crazy idea to seal that leak except hay wire. Actual seal surfaces had soft Teflon Gortex caulking & everything coated inside with high temperature Permutex. The whole thing lasted one more heating season & then I got a new boiler. Aside from our impressive array of sealing devices, the success of the repair was the fact that we removed two burners from under & near the repair site. Sounds like you could use Gortex & s/s clamps, ... but hide & protect the repair site. Make sure you never never run system over 1-2 psi, double check all your pressure sensing devices.