EKO is Leaking

[trehugr]

Figured I would first take a deep breath, and talk to the boys and girls at Hearth before I panicked.

Haven't had a fire in about 2 weeks and was going to do my summer shutdown yesterday. Found water dripping out of the secondary chamber door.

Traced the leak up to the primary chamber exhaust port. The port has a welded seam on the bottom, and it is that seam that is leaking.

Its less than a year old. Can it be welded ? I wonder if A.H.O.N.A. will take care of it. Any suggestions before I have cow.

 

[chuck172]

Is it a weld that is leaking?
If it's only a year old, I'd check into the guarantee. I'm sure it can be welded. There has to be plenty of meat there to weld to. It's the older ones that have the thickness eroded that can't be welded.

 

[altheating]

Looking at the picture it looks like it is on the flat steel not in the weld. But that is from looking at the picture. If its in the weld I would not be concerned, if its in the flat steel, thats a whole different issue. It probably was oozing all winter with the heat of the stove drying it, upon shutdown there was nothing to dry it up.

 

[trehugr]

Yes, I think it has been leaking all along. There has always been streaks down the back of the primary chamber. I ASSumed it was due to creosote. It is leaking from the weld, that I am positive of.

 

[chuck172]

It may be right on the edge of the weld. That's undercut. I'd let the seller know about this, he should make good.
You can dump the water, plug everything up and air pressure test the boiler. If you soap the weld-joint where it's leaking, it'll bubble up.
Take a picture and show it to who-ever sold you the boiler.

 

[Duetech]

If you bought it new it's under warranty. If you don't have the manual you can download one at cozyheat.net. Just off the top of my head I think under a year that you should be coverd with no out of pocket for the main structure. Also I beleive that portion of the boiler is 6mm or roughly a 1/4" thick and from the description easily repairable. Please keep us posted though as this is the first I have heard of a leak in an EKO and I am interested to see how they handle it. Good thing it is now and not five months from now...

 

[burningbill]

Not to worry. That should be covered under warranty. If not it is an easy weld repair. Maybe just a slag deposit or some other imperfection in the weld. Whoever repairs the boiler should gouge that out and build it up to be sure any imperfections from the first weld are removed. Again this is an easy repair for a reasonably competent welder.

 

[solarguy]

Your boiler is under warranty. You will need to find a good welder in your area, fix the problem & submit the bill
to either the dealer you purchased the unit thru or go directly to New Horizon Corp.

Bob

 

[Justburnit]

I would go directly to whom you purchased from and let them decide that path to correct the issue. That is a manufacturing issue and is what the warrantee is for. I would expect that has been leaking since soon after startup but has just been steam up the pipe till your summer cool down.

Replacement or repair should be the decision of the dealer and importer so there is no question in the future.

 

[Hansson]

This a weld on a Eko here in Sweden.
I wonder how the welder got the job?

 

[webbie]

WOW, that is a poor weld.........

Boiler welds should look like they were put on with a caulk gun........

 

[stee6043]

Yes, I think it has been leaking all along. There has always been streaks down the back of the primary chamber. I ASSumed it was due to creosote. It is leaking from the weld, that I am positive of.

Did you notice consistent drop in your system pressure while you were burning last year? I'd think with a constant leak you'd loose noticeable pressure...

 

[Gooserider]

Yes, I think it has been leaking all along. There has always been streaks down the back of the primary chamber. I ASSumed it was due to creosote. It is leaking from the weld, that I am positive of.

Did you notice consistent drop in your system pressure while you were burning last year? I'd think with a constant leak you'd loose noticeable pressure...

Depends... Some folks leave the system fill valve open to keep the system filled via the fill pressure regulator, which does the job, and you don't loose any pressure, but it hides leaks, and increases the potential for flooding if you have a major leak somewhere. Presumably you would hear the flow if the volume were high, but probably not on a slow weep leak like this one. IMHO I think it is better to keep it closed so that leaks show up as pressure losses, and if you do get a major break the flood volume is limited to whats in the system. Downside of doing this is that you could potentially end up with a dry boiler depending on where the leak is...

Gooserider

 

[trehugr]

Yes, my fill valve stays open. All MY work is leak free. Disconcerting that a professional company like Orlanski is not leak free. Geez, my ex wife is Polish... is this somehow payback ?

On the bright side, I have every confidence that we will get this repaired. I love our EKO. Everyone makes mistakes, nothing is perfect.

 

[solarguy]

Out of 42 boilers sold last year, we had one that was a weeper.
Just confirm w/ your dealer or Zennon that the bill will be taken care of & get it fixed.

Bob

 

[chuck172]

I wouldn't go the boiler sealer/clogger route. Too big an investment. Do it right. Get it welded. Submit the bill to who-ever. First I'd try to get an approval.

 

[Gooserider]

I agree on getting an approval, I would hope that TreHugr has been in touch w/ the appropriate parties already, and hasn't just vented here...

TreHugr - have you had any contact w/ the powers that be at EKO USA yet?

IMHO, while it does not look good that EKO delivered a leaker to a customer, it is certainly possible for any company to have a defective product. What seems at least as important to me is what they do to handle the problem - welding it up is to me the minimum they could do...

I would think they would be better off to replace the unit, and pick up most / all the cost for doing so... While granted that this is not the heating season at present, the speed with which they make whatever response they give is also of interest...

I will be interested in watching the continuing saga, and see how this issue is handled...


Gooserider

 

[Fred61]

Why all the continuing discussion on approval? You have received it twice in this thread. SOLARGUY represents AHONA in NH.

 

[trehugr]

I have contacted Alternative Heating of North America, via email. I sent the same photos and similar description as my original post. I got a return email informing me that they would be in touch with me in a few days.

Hello Kevin,

I hope all is well.

Mark and I just arrived home from a trade-show in Michigan last night.

I will forward the photos to Mark for review. After which time he will call you
to discuss the claim and the proper steps to follow in submitting a warranty claim through
New Horizon Corporation.

You can expect a response in the next few days.

Thank you,



Soooo Im waiting.

 

[Gooserider]

Sounds like a reasonable response thus far, hope you'll keep us posted as things develop further...

Gooserider

 

[chuck172]

trehugr,
I think you'll find out that this forum carries a significant amount of weight. Your retailer will do right by you.
Good publicity is priceless.

 

[Jeemco]

Gentlemen, Doing summer maitenance tonight I found a small leak above the cleaning rod arms on my eko... its less than a year old but I cnnot pinpoint the leak or get a picture. I will follow up on the warranty issue but how do I get a pic.

Jim

 

[trehugr]

Why can't you get a photo ?

 

[heaterman]

I had an EBW-100 Econoburn that leaked and the company wanted it back to inspect it. They shipped a new boiler to replace it.

 

[mwk1000]

I would like to know how this was handled ? How did it turn out ? Imagine my concern when I opened my EKO 60 last night to load wood and saw a pinhole stream of water leaking from the rear. After looking at the photos I and reading this thread it looks like I can report my 1 Year old EKO has the exact same defect! The leak is spraying from a location about 2 mm (say 28-29 min on a clock face ) from the same point on the rear exhaust vent. I also saw slick look and wrote it off to creosote or the fact that I had to use damp wood alot last march/april. Seem silly in hindsight but I'm new to boilers

I'll get some pics as well but it's more than a bit frustrating. Can if be surface welded from the inside while full ? I imaging that will pull away the heat and make a poor joint. I have 50/50 glycol that was not cheap in the boiler segment.