A
andy44
Hello everyone,
I need some help with this.
Our boiler is a glowworm balanced flu something or other. It is a large thing that sits on the floor. It has a very large square vent behind it.
13 years or so ago, it developed a fault: there was a crack/hole on the cast iron tank which sits right above the burners and as soon as the water got a bit hot, it would run down as steam into the flames and put them out. So it was impossible to use it.
At that time, 13 years ago, we called a plumber, he said it was beyond repair, and he replaced it with an exact same model.
Fast forward to now.
A couple of months ago, on occasion, the boiler switched off, and on inspection the flames and pilot were off. I restarted it, and forgot about it.
Today I decided to give it a good clean, second time in 13 years. I pulled out the burners, removed all debris that has accumulated at the far back from the outside vent (lots of twigs and pines needles and other junk), and used a large wire brush to brush down both burners and the iron tank above. There was lots of white stuff falling down.
As I was working on it, I noticed that there was this white stuff coming out from the vertical connections on the main tank. Perhaps it is not called tank, it is the huge cast iron container where the water circulates in.
It seems this huge container is not a single piece but it is put together by vertically connected pieces, you can see the vertical slots in between. There is evidence of scale (white) leaking out from top to bottom from those vertical slots, all of them.
After the cleanup I have now discovered that with brushing the underneath of this huge tank, I must have disturbed something and opened a leak, because the flames now go off all the time. In addition while it is working, I placed my hand over the exhaust and there is quite hot and very very humid air coming out. Clear evidence there is a leak in the burner area.
I am quite annoyed that this glowworm is going the way of its brother, 13 years ago, and wanted your advice:
1) Is it repairable?
2) Is it worth buying another gloworm if it would last another 10 or more years?
3) Are these glowworms efficient? It does not have a fan to circulate the air and I presume that the external drafts/winds might affect the efficiency?
4) any other advice?
I need some help with this.
Our boiler is a glowworm balanced flu something or other. It is a large thing that sits on the floor. It has a very large square vent behind it.
13 years or so ago, it developed a fault: there was a crack/hole on the cast iron tank which sits right above the burners and as soon as the water got a bit hot, it would run down as steam into the flames and put them out. So it was impossible to use it.
At that time, 13 years ago, we called a plumber, he said it was beyond repair, and he replaced it with an exact same model.
Fast forward to now.
A couple of months ago, on occasion, the boiler switched off, and on inspection the flames and pilot were off. I restarted it, and forgot about it.
Today I decided to give it a good clean, second time in 13 years. I pulled out the burners, removed all debris that has accumulated at the far back from the outside vent (lots of twigs and pines needles and other junk), and used a large wire brush to brush down both burners and the iron tank above. There was lots of white stuff falling down.
As I was working on it, I noticed that there was this white stuff coming out from the vertical connections on the main tank. Perhaps it is not called tank, it is the huge cast iron container where the water circulates in.
It seems this huge container is not a single piece but it is put together by vertically connected pieces, you can see the vertical slots in between. There is evidence of scale (white) leaking out from top to bottom from those vertical slots, all of them.
After the cleanup I have now discovered that with brushing the underneath of this huge tank, I must have disturbed something and opened a leak, because the flames now go off all the time. In addition while it is working, I placed my hand over the exhaust and there is quite hot and very very humid air coming out. Clear evidence there is a leak in the burner area.
I am quite annoyed that this glowworm is going the way of its brother, 13 years ago, and wanted your advice:
1) Is it repairable?
2) Is it worth buying another gloworm if it would last another 10 or more years?
3) Are these glowworms efficient? It does not have a fan to circulate the air and I presume that the external drafts/winds might affect the efficiency?
4) any other advice?
