Boiler Bulge?

I recently noticed a dripping leak on the jacket of my EKO 40, under the green casing and insulation. I took the insulation off and found the leak on a welding seam, but that's not what I'm concerned about now. The boiler itself has curve in it. (pictures attached). The level I used is just about touching the boiler in the middle, but on the end has quite a bit of space, as you can see. There is quite the change between one side of the water stain and the other. Is this normal, or is this boiler wall too weak? Anyone who's had their insulation off let me know.

Hmmm, I would hope someone with an Eko can chime in and let you know. Regardless the leak is a problem. Did you buy it from a local dealer by chance? (Im thinking getting them to take a look at it). Is your T&P relief working OK?

My T&P has never blown and I've opened it up and run it every year to make sure its working. I've got a welder coming in this week to fix the leak. That's why I took the screws out of the casing around it so I could pinpoint where the leak was. It looks like its just a pinhole at a seam. I just did this today, so I'm waiting until tomorrow to contact the dealer. I bought the stove from AHONA in 2008, but I wanted to know if this was the normal or not before I contacted them.

The fit and finish on those EKOs isn't the greatest, so I wouldn't be too concerned about a bulge. I seriously doubt it's anything other than a manufacturing anomaly. You're not going to bend boiler plate with 30 psi I don't think (though I could be wrong). I'd be a lot more concerned about a leak. Seems to me that's a warranty issue, for sure. How old is the boiler? How long have you had it in service?

Eric is right. I would think you would need serious PSI to bulge the boiler, but you would see other problems there too....

I set it up the boiler in the summer of 2008, this will be my 4th winter with it. How long are those warranties for?

Warranty is for 20 years. Years 1-5 at 100% At year 6 it's prorated to 60%. I'd contact new horizon before the welder does the work.

Page 28 of the manual
http://www.newhorizoncorp.com/PDF/ekomanual.pdf

I bought the furnace through AHONA, is New Horizon the company that imports them from Poland, or is that the company that makes them?

I just read the fine print, warranty is void if it wasn't inspected every two years blah blah blah.

I'd still call and see what they say as this appears to be poor assembly by the maker. Doesn't hurt to mention that you will be posting there response online. Or just email them a link to this thread.

Good luck

I believe new horizon is the importer. And they are the ones that issued the warranty. Ahona, as your dealer, should be able to help facilitate the warranty repair.

But Ahona does not sel eko's anymore so they may not be extremely motivated to help. I'd call new horizon directly if Ahona can't or won't help.

In my experience, New Horizon is very good about warranty issues. I'd just call Zenon directly. Maybe send photos of the leak.

Boiler leaks are usually the tip of the corrosion iceberg in older boilers, so there's generally not much reason to start welding on them. I suppose you could corrode through a boiler in 4 years, but that would be pretty uncommon. So welding it up may work alright. But check with NH before you do anything. In the meantime, you could try to stop it with some Boiler Stop Leak. If it's just a small hole, that should heal it right up and you can use the boiler while you're waiting on the repair or replacement.

Boiler Stop Leak? Haven't heard of that. How does that work and where can I get some? Just sent an email to New Horizon with the pictures of both the leak and the odd shape the boiler side. I'll see what comes up.

It comes in a bottle. I think you can buy it at Home Depot, but if not, any plumbing supply house. You pour it in and it's silica, so it finds and stops up any small leaks. Professional plumbers say they never use it, but I have, and it worked fine. Takes a day or two to work.

It looks as though your boiler has stays on the side panels right?

If so I would believe that it was that way from the factory, seems like it would be hard to move with stays in place.

gg

Have you checked your water chemistry?

Can you verify that your return water protection has been working correctly? I'm not thinking about condensation so much as boiler shock if return temps were really low.

I tend to agree with gg that it probably came that way from the factory and I doubt boiler shock could cause that, though I don't know what boiler shock really is so.......

Noah

Stays? Do you mean those brackets that stick out? There is no band across the side of the boiler, those brackets are what the enamel casing screws to to hold it on.

In your second picture the round bump on the boiler that is right near the level bubble. They should be welded to inner and outer sheets of steel to maintain spacing.

gg

Well I am not sure about that. In just a 10x10inch area there be 3000LB of force pusing out,think about it? about weight of pickup there.

GG and Ozzie make good points. If that spacer isn't welded to the inside plate, then it might be able to bulge under pressure. However, if that's the case, then it would probably leak water into the firebox, no? Not sure how these things are put together. I don't think there are corresponding lugs on the inside of the firebox, so perhaps they're just surface welded to the other side of the plate, instead of going through a hole in the plate and being welded inside the firebox. I'll have to look at mine when I get home.

I would definitely start with a call to the dealer you bought it from. Just because they don't sell the brand any more, doesn't mean they shouldn't be motivated to help. You gave them quite a bit of money and they advertise on this forum. If they don't help, it would show very poorly for them.

If that turns out to be a dead end, get on the phone with the importer.

I wouldn't jump to repairing it yourself as that might void any chance of a warranty. If you are having small trouble with it now, you would certainly want to be covered for big trouble soon.

ac

I think you may want to read the specs sheet on an eko.It is written operating psi is 25 so if you have a 30 lb psi relief valve on it and are getting above the 25 psi spec that could be the explanation for the bulgeing.

boilers in Europe have a working pressure of 1 to 2bar Safeti valves are 2.5 bar

a maximum working pressure for vigas is 3 bar

or 43 psi

I emailed New Horizon and they said they would cover the cost of the welder. They didn't say anything about the bulge though. I may bring it up again.

GG - So you think maybe it was just made that way, then? I saw those little round things, but I didn't know what they were.