AA 260 Fan Noise

Was working on the old girl tonight.

I drained the old steel expansion mounted near the ceiling.

After draining half the tank, I again pressurized everything and turned her back on.

Near the end of the firing cycle, I started hearing a slight tinkling sound coming from the combustion fan blades. It appears that the blades may be hitting something on the inside of the burn pot.

Would this be a bearing starting to wobble or something else.

Just looking to get through this season before doing the major rehab of the system and preparing a parts list or a to do list.

Rick

Is it possible you bumped the fan and motor support and caused some alignment issue? It is very possible to move the base support a fraction of an inch and cause an interference. Yes, the blade could be an issue, but the 260 blades are long lasting in anything that isn't a 24/7 run-time boiler. Commercial apps do get it hot and with time, can cause cracking. First, I'd look over the mounting, then wiggle the fan assembly while it is running to see if you can create the tolerance you need. It might be that simple. Let us know................also, check the rubber mounts to see if one of them has been damaged.

Fix that noise issue yet?

whistlenut wrote:Fix that noise issue yet?

Nope, didn't hear it this morning.

I do know that there is some movement back there and maybe it was just my messing around that threw it off a little bit.

I do suspect the mounts are getting a little weak also. Been many years of oil leaking on those rubber bushings.

I'll let you know tonight. Spoke with the wife and she told me that I had better be putting together a list of everything I want to do to rehab her this summer. No not the wife, the boiler. First thing will be that old expansion tank.

Do they make a refurb kit for these things or does everything have to be ordered individually ??

Rick

You will need to order parts separately. Don't be afraid to start spraying the hard to reach items with a good quality penetrating oil now......and anti-seize them on re-assembly.
The rubber mounts are an easy fix, and not expensive. The fan is about $290.00 +/-, and the ash tray rollers about $18 each, if necessary. Gaskets are small money.
The roller bearings I have a special connection for, and will PM you with that info. Ashing arm and linkage are a 'repair as necessary' item....as is the linkage to the ash grate.
Your unit may be in great shape anyway, but many used ones need major repair to remain trouble-free for another 30 years. Do you use the tankless coil? If so, did it ever leak?
Those studs are a weak link, which is why I get cranky about the older design of AA, EFM, GJ, Van Wert and even Keystoker.
I do understand the 'stylin' thing of the 50's.....cover it with shiny covers, blah, blah, blah, but what a PITA when the small leak is not detected for years and an expensive repair becomes necessary.......

Tankless coil ???

Yep we got one of those. In fact I believe we are on our second 1 in the past 20 years.

Does it leak ?? YUP. Here is the pic from the cell phone. Not really clear but I think you can see what needs to be seen.
Yeah, I figure I will have to rehab the rear area where the coil mounts. I really won't know until after I derust the back end.

Rick

When I rehabbed my rust-bucket AA260, I did not want to cut out the steel around the studs for the water coil. The surface was badly pitted,
and probably was rusted to less than 1/8" thick in spots..
So I used my always reliable standby: Permatex UltraBlack RTV. I used a very thin layer on both the steel of the boiler, 'Painting' the surface with a thin layer, I did the same on the old rubber gasket, and the steel of the coil as well.
That's been 5 years now.. and not a drop, not a seep, NOTHING..

I believe that the RTV tends to seal out the water that normally seeps into the gap. [that's why I 'painted the surface] The RTV has a lot of 'give' so the temperature differences don't seem to create leaks like just a dry gasket on bare steel does..

Just a suggestion, it works very well for me. And my old gasket and steel surfaces were FAR from being even 'good' They were actually pretty bad.

Greg L