Leaky Boiler

Cast Iron

Hi,
First of all, thanks for all the useful advice presented here on the wall. I bought this house a couple of years ago and combined with Dan's books and all your advice, my one pipe steam sytem was working great.

As we have worked our way into the spring months, I noticed that although the boiler was firing less and less, I seemed to be filling it more often, what seemed to me much more often than during the heating season. Well it finally got warm enough and I shut the pilot off. Now there is a big wet spot under the boiler and the water level has dropped about half an inch in the week since I turned the pilot off.

Should I have left the pilot on? Did all the contraction cause the seals to loosen up? Or was this hole inevitable and I am just lucky it happened as we go into the summer? The cement under the boiler has the date 1989 inscribed in it which I think is the installation date of the boiler, should a Weil-McLain last more than 17 years? My guess is yes, based on some of those old ones you guys are working on.

There are no underground pipes, BUT whoever installed the unit used copper for the near boiler piping, which I guess I should avoid next time. There is an auto-fill valve, but I typically just opened the hand valve to fill it when I was in the basement.

Any advice? If I heat it back up and the leak goes away, am I good to go or just sitting on a time bomb? Is there a better boiler?

Jim

Steam Boiler can last a long time if they are properly maintained...I think the all manufactures warranty all boilers to the orig. owner who purchased it...I think this is in the warranty...2nd all manufactures warranty steam boiler for a period of 10 years...life of a steam boiler usually is cut short due to lack of maintence...

Weil-McLain is an excellent boiler and 17 years on a steam boiler is really not that bad...auto fill valves sometimes are the reason a boilers life is cut short...

Call a good contractor in ytour area and get a professional option on where the boiler is leaking or if the boiler is leaking....

Good Luck

Unknown

weil mclain boilers

I had back to back Weil McLain steam boilers replacment in past winter, 1st one was only 9 years old... In warrenty? Nope, it was installed improperly in every way... The only drain valve on the whole system was the blow down on the low water cut off... The gaskets outlasted the cast iron sections.. 2nd one was installed in 1978, out of warrenty, yep, reason for failure; lacks of mantenice after an old timer moved away, faithfully watched the system... Then furnace company came along and was tired of the boiler shuttin down often on low water, so he repiped the low water with 4 st 90 els to change the water level.. St 90 els plugged up and water stayed in the bellow while boiler dry fired... As you read the walls and books.. Any bad installation will shorten ANY boilers regardless of brands..

Jerry_15

If it's just weeping it probably will go away when you fire it up, but that's kind of sad in itself, no? Sure it should last longer. I'm assuming this came as a package and wasn't assembled on site, and I'm sure it's possible to take it down and replace the gaskets. Might also be able to put in a miracle cure like silver king and fix it right up. Might also be time to look at a better efficiency unit instead of throwing money at the old one. If you do, lose the copper.