Boiler Combustion Chamber Questions

DJB

Greetings, all.  New to your forums and a DIYer, so thanks in advance for your patience.  I'm an auto technician by trade and have undertaken nozzle, electrode, and filter replacements before, but I'm getting ready to go a step further and would like some advice.



The combustion chamber on my Burnham V74 has collapsed.  All four bolts holding the burner to the door broke, but I was able to remove the door completely and get it to my shop to extract the broken bolts and chase the threads.



The rear panel was crumbling and cracked,  blanket was full of debris, front panel relatively intact.  I've cleaned all the mess out with a wire brush and vacuum.



Here are my questions about replacement:



Should I source my parts from a Burnham dealer?  Or are there "aftermarket" parts I can or should not use?



Are the front and rear panels just a friction fit, or should I use an adhesive?  I see kits come with "water glass" glue.  What is this?  While cleaning out the mess, I was finding yellow semi-liquid residues (the consistency of wax or goo or chemical sealant) at the seams.



From looking at a parts diagram, I see there is a "rope gasket" for the door.  Is this enough or should I use a liquid gasket maker as well?  How about the gasket between the burner and door...looks to be paper.  Is this enough, our should I use a chemical sealant as well?



Any good on-line or in-print resources that explain the procedure?



Thanks, all.  Very appreciative of your considerate forum.



DJ

Steamhead

You don't want to do this yourself

While oil burners aren't as complicated as today's cars, you still need a certain amount of know-how, and the proper equipment to set them up properly.



In particular, any time you change any component, a combustion analysis is mandatory to make sure the burner is running safely. Failure to do so has resulted in soot-ups, fires and even deaths.



If you've watched burner guys simply change nozzles, filters etc. and call that proper servicing, you have been sadly misled. Unfortunately, this is all too common.



Fortunately there are some good people out there who do it right. Try the Find a Contractor page of this site.

lchmb

agree

If nothing else, you may find a tech who needs his car worked on and can make a deal. I dont work on my wife's car because I dont have the training, and she'd kill me if I broke it, but if your boiler goes south it could hurt alot of your loved one's. You may even find someone who will work with you so that you can be involved...But I generally charge more for that..;) J/K..

billtwocase

kudos

to you DJB for having some knowledge and drive to do your own work. The Lynn kit # is 1074 for the V7 series  I would have to agree with my 2 brethren that it would be best to get er done by a pro.  All combustion readings/results will most likely change after the repair, and will need to be tweaked when done. You sound mechanically inclined by all means, but might be best to have it serviced at the same time. Good luck

deathraay

Get it serviced

I just replaced the chamber of my Weil-McLain P66 with a Lynn kit.  Give yourself plenty a time to do it right.  Make sure to follow-up with a service call from a technician for a tune up, etc.  I had to do it myself because I could not afford the $800 that was quoted.