burner pot deterioration.

Probably can't get to the keyboard with all the blood......blisters from the 'fire wrench' heating the rusted carcass to remove bolts, nuts, etc.
He may be at a 'support facility' after wondering how such a straight forward job became so difficult.....
Perhaps the number of Adult beverages was overwhelming...........

Or he is laughing his fanny off wondering why that WN dude is being such a PITA! All in good fun, and Axemans are no cake walk either. When we rebuild we retrofit problem areas too. I particularity 'dislike' the base cabinet on the old style EFMs, but the new style make me much happier. Working on a round door EFM is not unlike building or rebuilding a 'Ship in a Bottle' in my opinion. Square door...HUGGGGGGGE improvement.

The Old Van Werts have a round door too. It's really small, maybe 6 inches. Even lighting it isn't a walk in the park at least compared to mine.

Sure was a challenge to do anything to repair the rigs, but they lasted for 30 years before and REAL attention was required! They all are excellent, with a few drawbacks to each. VW and GJ were sure rugged.....but so were most of the others. They need to return to production....(dream on.....right)

24 degrees here right now, crystal clear skies........and a GJ is making us very comfortable, very economically.

The door opening was made so that the entire burner ring, with plates attached, could fit through. Some work, some don't, especially the later ones. The ball was dropped somewhere.

The next generation of pressure vessels will be more user friendly for sure. It is strange why someone couldn't make the move to change things, but look at who is gone from the marketplace......wow. I remember in 1970 the rush was on to unload all the coal boilers and equipment distributors had. They must have laughed hard at me when I bought up all the Axeman products I could find. I knew nothing of the other manufacturers back then, and the AA's worked flawlessly and the coal showed up on time and I still to this day have no complaints about product or delivery. There were other dealers whom I later met who did keep the coal fires going, but nothing like you guys in PA. Van Wert was big up north for many years, especially due to the ash auger installation. GJ was bigger than VW, however as the old timers faded, the new guys wanted to keep it 'cleaner' and went to oil . Lots of those Octopus Hot Air furnaces still around. We all laugh, but at 75% efficiency and with the long even burn, coal was still the best, most comfortable fuel to use. All the old farmers were wiser than most, and used boilers so that they had hot water for free to do the milk rooms. Those farmers didn't burn down the homestead like wood fired operation did to so many folks. ...enough of that stuff for now. Chris, have you ever had to take apart on old S-20 stoker...all rusted together.....bolts need the 'fire wrench'....I worked on a 900 for 3 weeks to 'soften up' the rusted together cast parts....why some SOAB at the assembly bench didn't anti-seize these parts, is beyond my comprehension!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I would separate the pot and stoker at the air tube. Very few were easy. The torch is an excellent way to burn away unwanted metal. I learned in my teens that you can burn away two side-by-side metals as long as there was even the slightest air gap between them. Nowadays, I've had to burn impellers off motor shafts, without damaging the shaft. All because people don't use Never Seize. It's always a "hurry up and get it done attitude" that the "next guy" deals with.