EFM 520 Major leaks

I filled up my EFM 520 for the first time since getting it into position and I found some of the tubes in the back leak. I'm not sure what they're called but they're the tubes that the flue gasses travel down through to exit out the flue pipe. Just by removing the rear plate and sticking my head in there it looks like there have been some holes rusting in there from sitting. From the looks of it I have to take the boiler off the stand and cut out the plate the tubes are welded into from the top and bottom and replace that section. Is there an easy way to do this or has anyone done this before? The metal tubes look pretty thin so I'm assuming this happened on a number of these furnaces.

Maybe you can contact forum member scrapper_23jr for welding or advice.

Used boilers are always a cat in the bag.

sometimes it's worth the extra money to buy a nicer used unit up front than try to fix one that is too far gone. The downside is that the boiler you want to buy will still be in operation so that means more work unhooking and extracting it. Units that are left in a scrap pile outside for years aren't that good.

That's what I assumed about this one. It was still hooked up in the basement of an empty house. After I had removed it though I found out that the house had been empty for about 15 years. From what I understand these tube style boilers are more prone to rusting like this especially if hooked up to a chimney and not running. Other than the tubes though everything appears to be in tip top shape. I'm going to cut out the affected section and post some pictures on here shortly. Still not sure what the best route to take on this one is though.

I've cut out the rusted tubes and replaced them. Then re-welded together everything I had to cut out to replace them. I now have a new question. After all of this was done and I filled up the unit to test it I have some seeping around some of the pipes that drips down the tubes. I was going to try some type of boiler sealer. I have no problem filling this up and getting it up to temperature but I'd like to seal this up leak free before I hook everything back up. Do the liquid boiler sealers work? If so would I be better off using more than recommended. Some say the more you use the better they work. Also some of the warning labels say not to use with water lubricated pumps. How can I tell if that's what I have? Any help would be appreciated.

I can't speak for the pumps, but just this morning I had a guy come in for a new boiler because his 1961 boiler had leaks and the leak sealer worked around the tubes, but only for a short time.

Grind and reweld them again where they leak, using a sealer is asking for trouble.

Don't they roll those tubes into place because the welds end up breaking after they expand and contract a few times? There are tube expanders on e-bay that would do the job right Scott

I agree, a sealer will not work, at least not for long.

I did use a tube expander when I put the tubes in. I used 2 1/2" tubing but there was still about a 1/16" gap around it so I pressed them tight before welding them into place. The reason I wanted to try a sealer is because I have to cut the back of the boiler off and then cut through another layer of the water jacket just to get to the tubes. Unfortunately I can't think of a way to test this as I go. I have to put everything back together and test it all at once.

Another question I'm unsure of is would I be able to buy just the top portion of the boiler? The base and all mechanical components work perfectly. I can't seem to locate a dealer who can answer this question.

That is what I was thinking. Why not just buy a new Boiler section. There was a base and S20 Stoker for sale in the papershop last week. I thought it may have been you.

There are no repair parts for your boiler at efm, but you can buy a new boiler.

I got the leaks fixed by buying a different top from Scrapper. It's been running since Friday but I have one more question. I have it set at 3 teeth and a little over 3 air and the house hasn't called for heat hardly ever but I'm burning up about 40 lbs a day just to keep the fire burning. Is this about the least I can expect to burn? Would it be ok to go down to 1 tooth of feed?

What is your timer set for 30 min or 1 hr and how many minutes do you have it to set to run for also what is your
aquastat set at on the low and the high set point and what is the diff set at also your T stat