Ok so I learned a very hard lesson I recently bought a vigas lambda 40 new from a guy in conn. Well after firing it up I found a leak in the boiler welds and upon further investigation I found that someone had repaired this unit and did a damn good job covering their tracks, ive been trying to repair by cutting and welding with no luck! Ive now got a very expensive paper weight, wish I bought it from mark at ahona! Now I have to purchace another boiler so just beware BUY your boiler from reputable people dont be dumb like me, my real question is I have to shell out more money to replace iit torn between a empyre 100 indoor or another vigas 40 indoor any thoughts
vigas or empyre
- Thread starter Stonefire
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Spend the extra money and get the Froling like I did. You won't be disappointed. Solid dealer with support.
Don't bother with the empyre, so why can't the current boiler be repaired, it's only steel. Find a professional welder?
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
JP11
Minister of Fire
They build these things.. they can be rebuilt!
find a real pro fab shop that's used to doing pressure vessels.
It's not super thick. You should be able to get someone onsite with a tig welder to fix it up.
JP
find a real pro fab shop that's used to doing pressure vessels.
It's not super thick. You should be able to get someone onsite with a tig welder to fix it up.
JP
Wasn't there talk of grey market Vigas boilers flying around at one point? I wonder if it's one of those?
K
K
Yup its one of those, didnt know it at the time I purchaced made out to be a old dealer getting rid of old inventory
![[Hearth.com] vigas or empyre](/talk/data/attachments/146/146695-bca63691dcc83d088492f1d8e553a1be.jpg?hash=PXOvCgq0aM)
![[Hearth.com] vigas or empyre](/talk/data/attachments/146/146696-c4483ea49bf3633900858f6cf369081d.jpg?hash=np8R5d0CuR)
![[Hearth.com] vigas or empyre](/talk/data/attachments/146/146697-b33e6435d9cd1806d8fe2ff0ecf80cb2.jpg?hash=LDXmf-Q5Xn)
![[Hearth.com] vigas or empyre](/talk/data/attachments/146/146698-b6d3abffea945640da4481d2f2d8f5b4.jpg?hash=1MN4NdVg9W)
Thanks for the photos, I was kind of morbidly curious. If it's just one defect with a botched repair then it looks like it should be possible to cut away some more of the jacket and get in there to grind away and do a proper repair. The quality of the other original welds seems reasonably good from what we can see.
IMHO I would use the opening you have to grind down that mess with a die grinder and carbide burr. I would then cut out a U shaped plate that would fit around that air passage, weld it up and bam you are done. Or have someone do it for you if you are not comfortable. Looks like a pretty easy repair if that is the only leak.
I wish it was the only leak I ground it down and rewelded but still leaks I think it may be in a diff spot and they thought they were fixing the right area the first go around, extremely hard to tell once you cut into the jacket because you now have no way of filling with water to find leak, any suggestions
Just an idea, maybe drill and tap a few #10 or 1/4" (fine thread?) holes around the opening and bolt down a temporary gasketed plate with cap screws. Then pump in a few psi of air and soap up everything with a bubbly detergent and see what you can find.
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I like the temp screw on cover idea. That way you can make sure the leaks are fixed before you weld it back up. Might want to fill it up with water and then pump in 20psi or so.
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