Coalpail.com Forum

Is there supposed to be anything in between the pot rings in this furnace? I'm doing maintenance and was cleaning out in between the rings and there seems to be a red brick-like buildup. Not sure if there should be some sort of filler in between the rings for heat protection.

Picture this. Those rings being brand new. Starting with the smallest diameter on the bottom. Getting progressively bigger in diameter until the top ring is bolted down. Each ring is held apart by small "bumps" evenly spaced around the bottom of each ring. The bumps hold the plates evenly spaced apart from each other. No where was there red brick looking stuff. Just good clean cast iron rings. Do yourself a favor and take the pot apart and reassemble the rings after they are sandblasted or wire brushed. Chances are there are one or more rings that are cracked and will cause a hot spot/ ring melt down. Easy / cheaper to change them as soon as they are found. Even if you have no cracked rings, your boiler will breath much better with a good ring cleaning. Sounds like someone tried to burn corn in it. It makes that reddish crap.

I was thinking of tearing it apart in the fall. Is there a manual or instructions online on how to disassemble the whole thing. It looks like my top ring has one crack in it, but the rest look fine and I got all the other rings clean. Not sure how readily available rings are, but I'll check around.

The rings are available brand new. http://vanwertboilers.com/

There is a guy in Peckville where they were originally made that still has parts, he's a younger guy. It was his Fathers business. He has a a machine shop there and I guess his Father used to sell a lot Van Wert's. We never had any trouble getting anything we needed from him.

Not sure what the name is, phone number is 570-383-0990