Expansion tank failure

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Duetech

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Sep 15, 2008
1,436
S/W MI
I got up this morning and the house was 55*f. Not a nice start to the day but a start anyway. The boiler was at 200*f and in over heat shut down mode. There was still have a load of wood in the primary chamber. At first I thought I had left the bypass damper open because I for got to cycle the turbulator handle or something. Nope not that. Then I noticed water on the floor and it was dripping from my expansion tank. The tank is/was insulated so I had to change that and found about a 20 ga. wire hole in the upper portion of the tank probably just above the bladder line. I bled the air off the system and removed the tank. Using a wire wheel in my drill I started cleaning the area and found a second hole almost the same size. I use an oxygen scavenger additive in my boiler and the water I got out of the expansion tank was not rusty. Neither was the test I sampled while depressurizing the boiler. Is this just an mfg fluke or is this a likely indicator of some other problem? I appreciate any (useful) feed back you guys my send my way. I say "useful" because "any" is a broad statement and I've had thoughts myself when I've seen it used.
 
I've had the air leak out of the bladder on my tank (took 15 years of neglect) but otherwise never had a problem. Maybe cheaper materials and processes these days. All those junk cars that went to Chine had to end up somewhere - maybe your expansion tank was once a Pinto.
 
nofossil,
It could be a Pinto. I'm sure it wasn't a Vega. I had one of those and I don't think it would have made the trip to China.
 
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