Calling all Wallies. Problem with H.B. Smith Boilers ?

keith

We have the same problems with some V9 boilers that were installed in a condo complex. Can't say it is the manufactorers problem. They honored the cracked sections under warranty far longer than what you would expect. After that they sent outafield engineer tomap out some solutions. Priced it up and still waiting for an order. Guess they will wait untill another one pops, then they can pay for the section and repiping. Part of the problems discovered were low return water temps coming back from the indirects, low water temps coming back from the buried returns that service out buildings, and the fact only one return tapping was used instead of two which would evenly distribute water thru the section.

Joe at krahezfoo@aol.com

Calling all Wallies- Problem with H.B. Smith boilers ?

Just got a call from a customer in NY State. They have 2 HB Smith cast iron sectional boilers {HW} that have cracked sections in the lower returns. This job is less than two years old. This past summer, they pulled several sections of one of the boilers; and took the cracked sections to someone local who welded them up and machined them down. Welding cast is an art! Have to go up and look at the job, to find out if the repaired sections or the original sections failed this time. Factory Reps. should show up too! Sounds like too low of a water return temperature problem to me. Got any ideas? Have seen several failures of Smith boilers of this nature in the last 10 years. Anyone else experienced this problem?

tim from Reed Wright

yes, from what info I have gathered, this occurs during the shoulder seasons. Boiler runs for shorter than normal times, heat is called for and as the boiler comes up to temp, the whole system has not got hot. Then the retained heat in the sections is still there and the system pump starts again and brings back the cooler water and shocks the return side of the sections. Usually it will be the second or third from the back and about about a third of the way from the bottom. ??? Probably is not piped primary secondary either???