steam boiler rotted.

Jim Burke comfort zone

I was on a job today cust has a burnham kv74 steam boiler
cust was complaining of noise from hot water loop off mud leg& also wanted system check out after reading dans book.
Upon arival right off the bat i found the water loop was not installed properly had supply off bottom & return piped above the water line with no blending valve to boot.
also the header had a couple of tees with plugs at dead ends & no hartfod loop.
boiler has a good low water cutoff & auto feeder.
Cust told by a major service company that even with the auto feeder she would have to manual feed boiler so water in gauge glass was i/8 from top of gauge so they b.b would work.
Cust was filling boiler at least once a week since its been installed.
I in turn repiped the b.b loop the correct way and replace all rad vents & 2 new main vents.When i was filling the boiler i over filled the boiler above the gauge glass and saw water pouring from the chamber .
Upon further investigation i realized the boiler was leaking .
I have spoken to burnham rep. and was told due to excesive o2 in the system it rotted out the top of boiler .
Is this true & shouldn't the big blue company that did original install step up to the plate.
Cust has told me she had numerus so called service tech. at house and was told that it was perfectly normal to have to fill boiler even with auto feeder.
What would you guys do .
I am replacing Burnham with a new peerless tommorow With a nice new drop header(mad dog the steam king way),2 lwco & new bronze circ on hw zone (10 007 circ cart. installed within 1 1/2 years .
I still am stumped as to answer i was givin by boiler rep. true or false can filling steam boiler with fresh water cause the boiler to rot.
Thanks for all input.

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Steamhead

Yes it can

you need to determine why all that make-up water was needed- which I think you did. The Peerless should last much longer. But go over that system with a fine tooth comb on start-up, to make sure nothing is leaking.

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EBEBRATT-Ed

If the boiler rotted out be careful with any return lines below the water line. Usually excessive make up water will rot out the steel return piping before the cast iron boiler

Ed

Unknown

I always told the customer

that the auto feed connected to a 67 float LWCO was just there to keep the water at the minimum . If there was a coil or a zone off of high tappings , they needed to manually feed the water to 3/4 high in the sight glass . Nowadays with probe LWCOs and 3/4 tappings higher in the Peerless boiler block , the auto feeder can make a steam boiler almost hands free for the homeowner .

But adding water as often as they were , I'd suggest like Frank and Ed said , look for where that water is escaping . It might have been isolated to the boiler block , but the returns could be weeping also . This is a perfect job for a new style auto feeder with the built in digital water meter .

Here's one of the first drop header jobs we did with a Peerless , back in early 2003 . It makes connecting the 2 boiler risers a snap . Try to take some pics of the job and post them here Jim .

Dale

What to do first

I don't know when you got the customer information and I don't want to be critical since I have done this myself, for me since the market is WA here it's the spend time and money fixing the bad blower motor only to find the flames moving and a bad heat exchanger. I know and we tell our techs, don't replace the blower motor until you do a heat exchanger inspection. On steam I have fixed things to later learn of a water line leak, I overfill the steam boiler, cold is necessary if large money is needed for burner service, before I put any time and money in. For me tunnel vision is easy and I like to just start fixing things.

ED_29

Burnham Boilers

What you found ,is not uncommon for the V 74 serie`s Boiler We use to install them ,only to find out that they had a bad casting problem & the typical answer, was it `s the water. We have pulled out at least a 100 BOILERS,anywhere from 3 to ten years old. Peerless is the smart choice with a loop off it. No longer a Burnham Installer. ED

WPH2205

ABSOLUTELY!! You better believe that excessive make-up water will cause a boiler to develop a hole. Have seen it many times.

Tony Conner

Something Else...

...that can lead to oxygen pitting, is leaving the boiler with water in it all summer, and not firing it. The top layer of water absorbs oxygen from the air, and this will cause pitting at the water line. I'd recommend draining the water completely out of boilers that aren't going to be fired for several weeks or more, flushing them out with a hose, and leaving the water side open, with the make-up valved out. Failing that they should be fired at least weekly, and long enough to boil the water. That will drive off the dissolved oxygen.