View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
Jimi Jimi is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 82
Default Wood Furnace - Cracked Firebox


"Troy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a basement mounted wood furnace heating my home and when we
first purchased it the firebox had a two inch crack in the side which
actually exposed the burning chamber to the outside panel of the entire
unit. Obviously this was a safety hazard even though the furnace was
ran an entire year without anyone really knowing the extent of the
damage. To make the fix we used an arc-welder to close the crack and
it worked fine for another year (We have carbon monoxide detectors
downstairs and upstairs with no alerts ever going off) but I have been
since told that welding is not a suitable repair method and that the
entire unit should be condemned. The reputation of the service men
responsible for condemning it however is in question as it took them
four callbacks just to complete the actual cleaning that they were
called for and didn't even do it properly as they never even touched or
commented on the filthy air filter or duct system. Being in the army
I'm not home a lot and it was my wife that called the repairmen while I
was gone so I wasn't present when all this happened and I don't know
for sure the details of everything but what is sure is I can't afford
to replace the entire unit and we NEED heat. What can I do about this
and is welding really unsuitable for repairing a wood burning firebox?

Actually weather it be welded, glued, whatever.....what you have done is
destroyed the UL rating of the furnace and lost any household insurance
should anything happen from the repair. I am a welder of 26 years. It is
impossible to say weather your repair is good or not without physically
seeing it. What does happen , depending on how it was welded, is that you
have two materials (the weld and the exchanger) cooling at heating at
different speeds which could creat another crack, generally right beside the
weld you made on the repair.
Your serviceman was covering his ass. He saw the repair and figured it
should be something for him to stay away from. Him servicing a condemned
furnace would be himself contributing to a bad thing.
I have been asked to repair wood stoves that have had cracks in them.
I've refused to weld any of them, unless it's going in somebody's ice
fishing shack or old beat up worthless cabin..
Once I strike an arc on anything like that, the UL rating is toast and so is
your insurance, and myself, as the welder would be liable if anything
happened as a result of that weld. I'm suprised your serviceman came back at
all...Hope that was of some help...Jim