Low Return Water Temperature no Boiler bypass and corrosion

I am familiar with a gentleman that bought an EKO boiler from what he described as a "fly by night" dealer. 6 years ago. He wasn't offered much help in the system just the boiler sale. It was hooked up as a closed system-good, no storage tank-not so good, and no mixing valve or loading unit--bad, for return water protection. The boiler was generally operated at 150 deg outgoing "because that is all it took to heat the house" were the owners comments. The return water would have been 20-30deg lower.

The system developed a leak in the top of the fire box. The owner being a handy man went to fix the hole only to discover the metal was so thin the welder just burned holes through. A pocket knife could be used to penetrate the upper fire box area where the metal had once been 1/4" thick.

There could be other issues with the water in the system but the water supply in other areas has not developed problems so it seems to point to fire box corrosion due to condensation due to no return water temperature protection and operating the boiler at too low temps.

The owner has no computer so I thought I might put it out here on the forum for any other opinions or comments. This is the first eko I have heard about with a problem of this severity.

That's correct it can happen to any brand. It shoulnt be taken as negative toward any particular brand rather It is just for a real life reminder/warning to anyone installing a system to get proper life from the equipment it pays to follow the directions. You can get by for a while but in the end it will bite you. In this case it took 6 years to go from 1/4 to paper thin.