Poor burn Tarm excel 2000

[Marv]

Hi. I'm new to this forum. I am having issues with my Tarm not able to heat the boiler to a it's normal temperature of 180º. This unit is over 16 years old and has served me well. It seems that the draft is the problem. I cleaned the stove recently (like I do approximately every 6 months), and checked the chimney (clear). I thought that my draft fan was weak, and had it replaced (changed from 24v. to 120v.) After a $485.00 bill, it doesn't seem to be much better. I talked to Tarm tech, and found out that the ceramic fire box typically needs to be replaced after a time. This has not been done on my unit.

It may be that a number of issues have come together at the same time:

1. I may have a wood moisture problem. I did not get enough wood in this past summer due to a death in the family, and ended up buying some to get through. I did check the moisture content of 5 or 6 pieces and found them to be anywhere between 14 - 25%

2. ceramic needs replacement? Typical replacement is 7-12 years

3. draft fan weak (fixed)

Of course the first concern is to try and get it working again (I'm burning oil)
The bigger question is: is it worth replacing the ceramic (probably $1000.00 w/ labor) and then finding out that boiler is thin and starts to leak due to age. Is this replacement something I could do myself?

Anyone with experience similar to this, comments?

Thanks in advance.

 

[oldmilwaukee]

I would try really dry wood first. It really makes a difference in the whopping 2 weeks of experience I have running my new unit. It took 4 or 5 burn cycles for mine to really start putting out the heat. Wonder if a similar (re)break-in period applies to boilers that have been sitting unused for a long time? Also, is the aquastat that kicks on your circulator pump set high enough?