Combustion chamber relining fiasco.

Elias

I recently paid a heating contractor, one with a good reputation to reline the combustion chamber in my oil-fired boiler. Does anyone else out there think that it is negligent to do a job like this without then doing combustion testing? How about gasketing the burner mounting plate to the sheet metal enclosure instead of to the boiler sections? Or breaking off one of the four studs holding the mounting plate on and covering the hole with RTV?

I'll try to attach a picture. The stud you see is one that I replaced the broken one with. Note the RTV gasket on the sheet metal! I can't believe I paid for this.

There's more too, including covering a large proportion of the heat transfer area with wet-pak (if some is good, more must be better, right?), but I won't weigh you down with too much ridiculousness just now. I just wanted to hear what people think of this. ugh.

Steamhead (in transit)

Around here

I've seen crooked techs break a stud and tell the owner they need a whole new boiler. These companies are losing customers and can't figure out why- guess "you can't fix stupid" as Firedragon would say.

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Leo_16

Covering the area

Can you show a picture, they may not have covered too much area. You paid for this did you call back to complain? If it was an employee the owner would want to know if they were doing shoddy work. In a lot of cases a little comunication goes a long way.

Leo

Matthew Grallert

The tech should have come prepaired for broken mounting studs and read the directions that come with the Lynn replace chamber for your 24 year old WM68. The tech did not do a good job and your gripe is justified. Have him or her come back and do a combustion test, but be warned you might not like the #s.

burnerman_2

IF??

If the boiler was 24 years old then you may haved invested in a new boiler.The money you would save in future repairs and oil alone is worth it. And guys remember we only see a small part Lord only knows what he went through getting the bolts off and other factors.

mtfallsmikey

Oh yes!

Been there done that...broke more than one stud in my life, things get screwy (no pun intended!). Whenever I did a job like that, I made sure to be prepared. A couple of new spare studs (or bolts to replace the studs), drills, taps, new rope and gasket material. Plate and burner mounting were replaced as well. Sometimes even the Lynn (or whoever)precut chambers didn't fit too well, had to be trimmed. And yes, maybe they need a new boiler. but in today's economic climate, it doesn't always work out. Then, it's rehab time until the money is there to replace. Then, 5 yrs. later, another tech from another company says THAT boiler needs to be replaced!!...oy vey!

Elias

reline redux

Thanks so much for your input, guys. I've been knee deep for a few days, but things are much better. Chamber relined with the Lynn boiler-specific kit. stack temps down over 120 degrees! Here are two pictures, one is what they did originally, the second one is relined with the Lynn kit. The pictures may have to be rotated 90 degrees, but you get the idea. In addition the front cover is no longer gasketed to the sheet metal enclosure instead of the boiler sections.

The guys who did the first one never called me back.