Corroded Brass fitting on Central boiler

[dlabrie]

Hi,
I went out to my CB wood boiler the other day and noticed the water level was down. I opened the control door and the brass fitting on the out-flow side of the pump was pissing a tiny stream. I thought I was going to unscrew the fitting, put some pipe dope on it and be all set. Nope. I have attached picts of the corroded fitting. The boiler was installed in 2001. Am I going to have to worry about all of the fittings on my FHW heating system or could it be from the turbulence of the pump? Also, I have another fitting, but I don’t have access to a pex tool that big. Can I secure the new fitting with a screw clamp? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
David
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[Lake Girl]

Welcome to the forum. It's been a while since our boiler days but do you treat your water? We had a water "conditioner" we used to add to keep corrosion down.

Boiler folks will hopefully chime in with more current/better info...

Good luck.

 

[dlabrie]

I did some research and it seems that there was an issue with Zurn PEX fittings. There is a class settlement. The info can be found here.

 

[Lake Girl]

Might want to start a new thread with that in the title as I'm sure there are other forum members that have the same fittings... Thanks for the info!

 

[dlabrie]

Good Idea.

 

[maple1]

As touched on above, lack of water treatment may also have played a part.

And also perhaps high pump flow & water velocity - which would be related to exact type of pump, and pipe size & head. I think there are a lot of OWB setups out there with undersized underground piping that gets compensated for by using a big pump & high water velocities.

 

[dlabrie]

Is there a way to test and treat the water without having to buy test kits and chemicals from CB?

 

[Thenewguy]

Home Depot has simple test kits not sure how much they cover. Supply houses carry better test kits. Check for the ph levels is a good start 7.0 is what you want less then 6.8 ph ad water is considered acidic and can start doing damage to copper and brass.

 

[dlabrie]

So, All I am looking at is the PH? If it is high or low, What chemicals should I put in the water to adjust it? Can I use the PH up/down that I use in my pool?

 

[Thenewguy]

I'm not familiar with what chemicals they I've for pool ph. http://www.rhomarwater.com/products/residential-hydronic-radiant/. This Is the brand I have been using for about 8 yrs now for my house and company jobs. Do you run glycol in your hot water system. Glycol that breaks down can wreak havoc on the ph in a system.
I think ph is atleast the first place to start looking and should e a rather cheap test kit.

 

[Thenewguy]

Also how old is your system and any other signs of corrosion on other fittings.

 

[dlabrie]

No Glycol, I need to look at the other fittings. The system was installed in 2005.

 

[maple1]

Garn guys also have to do the water chemistry thing. There is an outfit most of them use, not 100% sure of the name - Precision Chemical or something like that? You'd send them a sample & they tell you what's what & what you need to do.

I'm pretty sure it's more than just ph - some of this stuff also scrubs oxygen out too. I think. Talking a bit over my head here.

 

[DaveBP]

These are the guys that can tell you what you have and how to correct it as far as open boiler system water goes. I talked to Mike. Very helpful.

(broken link removed)

 

[heaterman]

We use Mikes products exclusively in open and sealed systems for all our installs.

 

[Buzz Saw]

We use Mikes products exclusively in open and sealed systems for all our installs.

Do you use this stuff in Garns too, or does Garn have their own brand?

 

[heaterman]

Do you use this stuff in Garns too, or does Garn have their own brand?

Mike "packages" product specifically for Garn based on water samples sent in by the owner. That's part of the Garn program and gives the user a chemical mix that is custom tailored for their actual water conditions.

When we do a system using another brand or type of boiler, we send in the water samples for that particular system and he'll analyze and recommend accordingly. The generic water treatment he sells "off the shelf" is a basic mix of inhibitors, oxygen scavenging and PH adjusting chemicals which we have found to be very good for most normal capacity OWB's.
If you call them up you can order a test kit and they will analyze your particular sample and furnish a recommended package made specifically for you. I think the cost is in the $25-35 range for the test kit and testing.
The number I have for Precision Chem is 920-324-2007.

 

[harttj]

I had a fitting that looked like that. It was on a secondary loop. Not sure if the fitting came from CB or pexwarehouse.

That was 2 or 3 years ago. I have at least 6 that are the same size. System installed in 2007. No leaks since.