35 year old KA 6 boiler leak

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

I would really hesitate using it again as the metal has eroded there and there may be more damage. The only way your going to have a definitive answer is become a member of the heating help forum www.heatinghelp.com and post your question there along with many more photos becoming a member of the heating help forum is free and there are many plumbers there with many decades of experience.

If you make a lot of hot water an external shell and tube heat exchanger would be the way to go if your water is rough.
I had an external shell and tube domestic hot water coil in my hand fed boiler for 33 years and I never had any issues with it.
Did you every use any kind of boiler treatment in the boiler water?

This is a common issue, and easily repaired by someone with the right experience.

Foster Wheeler was, or maybe still is in Mountain Top. Any one of there welding employees should be able to fix that for you. That's what Foster Wheeler does, builds boilers. Many of there employees do side work. Ask around.....

You could cut the bad metal out and put a patch in with rounded corners or do a metal build up by pad welding the area. The problem with the repairs are if you have a lot of scale on the inside of the boiler, the welding could pop the scale off and you may have pinholes popping up. If you could have someone check the thickness of the metal, it would give you a better idea on what type of repair to proceed with. I no longer do boiler work since retiring but I would replace with a large enough patch to do it right. Hope this helps.

I'm no expert but to me it appears to have been eaten from the outside due to a leak. I would repair it, looks like an easy fix. Just make sure the rest of it is solid and someone competent does the repair.

Yes, I have used boiler additive since the very beginning. With a drain-down every few-several years to flush and freshen the insides. Always replenishing the additive, lately Hercules. I never had rusty water come out.
We have municipal water here, low on minerals, good taste, and no need for a home treatment system for drinking water.

Update on my stoker boiler leak. Keystoker fixed the leak !!! I am back in service with both hot water coils. Yayyyyyyyyyyy. He re-gasketed the non-leaking coil, and fixed the leaking side by cutting out the bad section, and welding in a new raised flange. Re-installed the coil in this new fitting. ( Maybe pics later. ) This allowed me to keep the two coils for hot water.
VG job by Keystoker getting me and my 35 year old boiler back. Another 35 years maybe ???

Excellent.

Good to hear it was fixable and that keystoker came through for you!

I am glad that they were willing to help you.