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35 year old Keystoker KA6 boiler leak At ^a

Buzzber67
Buzzber67 Member Posts: 1
Please see attached pics. This is an old unit, with many new parts. Works well, except for the leak.

This has 2 domestic hot water heating coils as an option when I bought it. A small leak started on the left coil last winter. We thought bad gaskets, so we ordered replacements from you. Yesterday we removed the coil to re-gasket, and found the hole, with a lot of metal eroded away from the leak. The hole is outside the contact area for the gasket. It went straight thru the boiler wall. It looked weak, so we poked it with a large screwdriver. The metal crumbled as the pics show.

Is this fixable ? Is there a way to repair the eroded steel part and reinstall the coil ? Could we flatten the studs and weld a cover plate over the whole thing ? We can get by with just the one coil.

Is there anyone in my area (Mountain Top) who could fix this for us ?

Thanks
Thanks


Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,159
    If this really is 35 years old... it's done it's time. Have you thought about replacing the whole thing with a newer, more efficient unit?

    That said, it that is really steel and not cast iron, it is weldable. By someone who really knows what they are doing. Basically the edges of the hole are ground away to sound metal, then the hole filled in with multiple passes, then the area stress relieved, then the resulting fix ground flat.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 5,803
    Where'd the jacket go?
    Save the aggravation and replace the boiler and assuming the burner. If things are tight you can get another steel boiler. However, an indirect water heater vs. the coil will save fuel.
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,796
    IIRC, the Keystoker is a steel, coal-burning boiler. Coal-burning replacements are harder to find than the usual oil- or gas-fired units, so getting it welded might be the way to go.

    @Buzzber67 , where is Mountain Top located? And is this a steam or hot-water system?
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • LongTimeStoker
    LongTimeStoker Member Posts: 1
    edited March 18
    I realize this is years after the original, doing a quick response during lunch for those seeing this thread and having the same problem. This is SUPER COMMON--at one time there was almost a cottage industry around doing these repairs--I did a number of them.

    The easiest is to buy (if they still sell them) or make a square plate with your bolt and coil holes drilled/cut and bolts/studs attached and just cut out part of the old boiler and weld the plate in. Done. Now with these new welders and plasma cutters that run on household current its so convenient to do these repairs--but you have to be able to weld a pressure vessel so not telling you to DIY... Remember if they overheat a boiler makes a LOT of pressure...

    There are other takes on this method, use your imagination, but its all the same. A better way is to weld an extension to the boiler so that the mating surfaces arent against the boiler (Keystoker makes them this way now) but thats just a little more work or imagination.

    Look up some boiler spec sheets and look at pictures of the coil attachments. If the unit is still working there is no need to upgrade. They are expensive and you aren't going to save the $7000+ in coal for many, many years to come... Keystoker is an awesome machine--I just got an older one up and running in a house I own and I am really impressed with it!
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,452
    Anyone who can weld COULD fix it.

    But this is a PRESSURE Vessel. It has to be an ASME rated boiler shop
    GGross
  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,095
    edited March 20
    Many stoker boilers are left unjacketed in basements to keep the basements drier and spread heat under the floor above.

    The copper pipe on the left side of the image is a cool water return to the base of the wet wall of the stoker.

    The Keystokers are designed with a wet end wall connected to the rectangular steam chest water chamber.

    The flue breech passes through the wet wall and the coal stoker is mounted under the steam chest on that end and coal hopper is bolted to the end wall using large buts welded to the steel plate. the base of the coal hopper rests on the coal stoker mounting plate weldment that is bolted to the dry wall under the steam chest reservoir.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I am not sure but the welded tie bolt to the right of the coil mount may have a cracked weld.
    It may be time to think about buying a new KAA-2, KAA-6-1 Axeman Anderson 130S or an AHS S130 with the single coil.

    The bad amount of steel around the coil mounting plate has to be cut out and a larger plate welded welded over it.

    Keystoker should be able to tell you who could do this for you.

    If I remember correctly the ASME rule is to test it safely pumping water into it to 60 PSIG test for one hour.