Crack in 4 year old Burnham boiler

shanpren

Hi,

We had a new Burnham boiler (sn 64975584) installed less than 4 years ago.  For a month or so, we've been needing to fill up the water every couple of days before it empties and shuts down.  We had the folks who installed it come out to look at it and they said it's cracked and needs to be replaced.  Burnham said their 10 year warranty doesn't cover corrosion and they offered us a "goodwill" gesture of a $500 new boiler plus $1,600 to have it installed.  Do we have any options for repair?  I'm hesitant to buy another Burnham but don't want to spend thousands more on one elsewhere.

Any experiences, suggestions, advice would be much appreciated!

BobC

Cracked boiler

I'm sorry to hear about your boiler failing at such a young age.



Where do you live and did anybody say anything about high chlorides in the water?

Is this a gas boiler and if so is it an atmospheric gas boiler?



If it is an oil burner there are some Burnham's that are more robust than others.



I know a lot of people between southeastern MA and Ri have chloride problems in the water supplies. Also if the home has a water softener the boiler should not be fed from the softener.



I don't know of anything you can do except to appeal to the Burnham district manager to see if they can cut you a better deal. I suspect the offer on the table is all your going to get.



good luck,



Bob

RDSTEAM

doesnt sound right

how often were you adding water over the past 4 years?? unless your filling that thing up every other day during the heating season i dont see how you can have that much fresh water corrosion. Do they know its from corrosion for sure?? Make sure the piping is done correctly (make sure if it has more than one tapping, they are all used).  Hopefully you can find something else out that maybe the contractor is hidding.... Good luck

RDSTEAM

if you could

post up  a pic so we can all give it a visual inspection.

Danny Scully

Burnham

Not all Burnham boilers require the use of both tappings, so don't red flag that immediately. Correct near boiler piping is, however, essential for all steam boilers to ensure proper performance, so that is something to look into.

A couple of suggestions I would make are:



1) Get a second opinion. Heating season is coming to a close so time is on your side, as long as you don't use the boiler for domestic hot water production as well. Make sure the boiler is actually cracked. Constant need to fill a steam boiler can also be caused by a leaking return line, a clogged return line, a bad vent, a leaking hand valve, etc. If the boiler is piped incorrectly it could also be pulling water out of the boiler and into the header, even up into the mains! So, get a second opinion.



2) As a heating contractor, I always suggest Burnham products. Your situation is unfortunate as much as it is rare. You might find some posts here and there about cracked Burnhams, however, you'll equally find claims against any number of other brands. $500.00 for an on average $2000.00(+) boiler, and $1,600.00 towards installation seems like a good option for repair, if in fact the boiler is cracked. What I'm suggesting here is that Burnham is a reliable company.



-Hope this helps