Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

This is more a scream in the dark than a request for help -- but if anyone
has suggestions, feel free to offer them.

Last winter my outside woodburning boiler began to leak, first a trickle and
then a stream. Since we were reaching the end of the heating season, I shut
it down and made do with space heaters, thinking that over the summer I'd
get a welder out here to fix the water tank.

Well, human nature happened, I had an inside propane boiler installed, and
then I filled the propane tank. Jumping Jesus! I could maybe afford to pay
for propane for the whole winter, but I'd rather not. 

So...this weekend a friend and I dismantled the end of the boiler that was
leaking. We found evidence of leakage -- a few ounces of water under the
foam insulation. Having removed most of the insulation from the boiler's
backside, the next obvious step was to fill the water tank.

There was no leakage over night. So today, figuring that heat would separate
whatever cracks were causing the leakage, I heated up the water. Temps are
above 200 Fahrenheit and no leaks are yet apparent.

The boiler and its water tank are made of carbon steel. I don't know how
thick the steel in, but it isn't flimsy. I can't imagine the whole backside
of the boiler is cracked and will start leaking on exposure to enough heat
-- I mean, shouldn't it be leaking now, if ever?

If I didn't have a witness to the leak last winter, I'd think I had
hallucinated it. This is a real puzzle.

Marie