Harman SF 160 cracks

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dwsmaine67
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Post by dwsmaine67 » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 9:46 am

I purchased and installed a Harman SF160 wood/coal boiler, first season of use was winter of 2012. I burn wood and coal in this unit to heat a 1700 square foot home, coal at night to keep the fire going all night and wood during the day when I'm home. This year, while cleaning to prepare for winter, I noticed cracking where the flu is welded into the back of the boiler. I realize the unit is out of warranty since it only has 5 year coverage, and I failed to notice the crack prior to warranty running out. My problem is that this crack didn't just happen overnight and this unit should last many more years before seeing an issue like this. As a certified welder, I know cracks like this happen with stress of heating/cooling and get worse over time, but this shouldn't happen this quickly, especially since I didn't use it much for 2 years out of the last 7 since installed. I contacted my dealer who said Harman will no longer address warranty on these, and furthermore, Harman has sold their boiler line to a competitor company. I contacted the competitor company rep, who indicated they know of many complaints of these units cracking; and that Harman was building these at low cost to undercut other manufacturers, sacrificing quality (note the Harman sales pitch is "Built to a Standard, Not a Price"). I then contacted my installer, who cautioned me about possible cracking into the water jacket causing water leaking into my home, but more frightening was his concern for carbon monoxide entering my home. Shouldn't Harman be responsible, regardless of warranty, for a defective product that they manufactured and sold that creates a risk to my family's safety? Has anyone else seen or heard of these units cracking? Has anyone filed any claim with Harman for this? I'm thinking of hiring an attorney at this point....

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tsb
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Post by tsb » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 10:09 am

If it is not leaking cold, it will probably not leak hot. The area of the crack does not involve the water jacket. You have negative pressure at that point so you won't have CO leaking. I wouldn't weld the crack, I would paste it over with furnace cement and call it a day. In the future you may develop a water leak some where in the boiler section. At that point you might want to use a leak stop or weld the leak. Don't over think the problem. ( you do have a CO detector ?)
As far as a legal remedy, I was always told, you may be right, but how much do you want to pay to prove it.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 12:16 pm

The crack will probably continue to grow. Drill the end of every crack, V the crack itself out with a grinding wheel, reweld.


 
dwsmaine67
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Post by dwsmaine67 » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 1:36 pm

The more I think about it, you're right... no lawyer will help, just waste a lot of money when I could just deal with it. I guess I'm just discouraged with Harman - they were supposed to be a good name, good quality. I discovered that the company that bought them out came up with a fix for this problem. Drain the furnace, drill the water jacket, weld the cracks, and weld a plate on the back of the unit that will put the cracked area inside the water jacket. This will keep the problem area at water temp (180 plus/minus) instead of stack temp which can be 500+. I just wish Harman would go good for it and pay for the repairs...

 
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tsb
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Post by tsb » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 3:02 pm

You know as a welder that if your well cracks, you want it to crack down the middle like in the picture. That shows that you put down a good weld. The problem is in the design or the base metal. That's why I wouldn't want to weld it again.
Drill small holes and the ends of the cracks and paste them over with furnace cement.

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 8:27 pm

Harman was great back in the day...
It was family run and did quality work...
They tried to go big...
Got bit in the ass...
Then sold to a larger corp that had deep pockets...
The new company that bought the Coal side of the Harman business is quality also...
Bite the bullet do the repair and be done with it...
Other than the crack the boiler is OK, right...
You can get all the replacement parts too...
Now the coal side of Harman is back in good hands...

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