Coalpail.com Forum

I'm wondering if anyone out there has any success repairing a leak in the water jacket of a hand fired boiler. I went to fire up the boiler today - late as ever - and I noticed an area where there might have been some leaking water in the past. This boiler wasn't used at all last year due to renovations, but had been over the last few years prior. Anyhow, I when I turned the water on it sprayed out of the leaky area. The leak seems to be a 2 inch +/- crack in the outside of the water jacket just inside the flue opening.

I have been thinking / planning for a replacement for this with a stoker unit in the future - so a short term repair that can get me thru until late February would be good. I am going to be out of the area with Uncle Sam after that and my wife really can't tend the boiler for too long periods. How about JB Weld?

Thanks Jay

Good welder hired to do the job, do it right the first time and have no worries later.

IF you can get to the inside of the water jacket where the crack is,, and use JB weld or Marine-Tex on a properly cleaned and prepared surface, it might work, adding JB weld or similar product on the outside is unlikely to work,,

Greg L

.

LsFarm wrote:IF you can get to the inside of the water jacket where the crack is
.

By insided of the water jacket do you mean the "wet" side?

Yes, and a good welder can usually repair the leak.

Yes, it would have to be from the water side. The pressure would tend hold the repair in place instead of pushing it off. Don't forget, when the steel heats up and cools down, the crack will grow so it is a temporary repair at best. To repair it properly, it will need a hole drilled at each end of the crack to relieve the stress and then the crack would be Veed out and the entire thing welded by a competent welder with at least three passes.

If the boiler is "H" stamped (rated for steam), the repair must be performed by an "R" stamp holder to maintain its rating. Not a big deal to the homeowner, but it is a very BIG deal to Factory Mutual, Hartford Steam Boiler and other insurers. It will also be a big deal with your state's boiler oversight dept. If this is a commercial installation, you must get an "R" stamp holder to make the repair.

OK - so no "simple" solutions. I'll have to take the sheetmetal jacket off and take a closer look. Coaledsweat, as you're only a little bit away down in Guilford and I'm up here in Winsted, do you have any recomendations for welders?

stelradCoal wrote:OK - so no "simple" solutions. I'll have to take the sheetmetal jacket off and take a closer look. Coaledsweat, as you're only a little bit away down in Guilford and I'm up here in Winsted, do you have any recomendations for welders?

I don't know anyone that far out, I know a guy in Windsor but the travel time will kill you. Just the drive out to Winsted would be twice the time it would take to repair it. Your best bet is to call around to the locals you have. You need someone with a mobile welder unless you want to tear it out and haul it to them. I would talk to a few, get a good price from someone that has made similar repairs and you should be fine.

The welder I use is certified to weld airframes.
He does lots of work for chain store restaurants too.
Look at the kind of work the welder does, in this case tank work or pressure vessels.

Thanks for the info - I ultimately decided to buy a replacement stoker - picked up the Coal-o-Matic from flyer8 a couple of weekends ago - and am in process of getting that into the basement and installed. Spent a few hours last weekend sliding its bulk down the basement stairs. Now for plumbing it into the current setup. I'm hoping my wife will be able to use the stoker while I'm in Iraq. I plan on disconnecting the Stelrad hand fired and dragging it out of the basement when I get back in 2010. Then I can get it fixed and decide on what to do with it, sell it probably.