Garn Leaking water again.
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I never have much luck with those miracle things. I would wonder if I wanted to buy one if I would get a call back. Just seems strange no one answers the phone. No one in the office because of virus? Most company's have it ring to someones house or cell if no one is in. I do have some high heat JB weld setting in the wings if the leak gets worst. I just don't want to drain it down in the middle of winter unless I have to. I am surprised the silicone has been holding as well as it has.
If it gets any worse I'm very confident that steel weld I took a picture of will work. You knead it with your fingers starting a chemical reaction. It will set in minutes and moisture didn't affect the fix for my situation.
Edit: also it wouldn't hurt to give it a try mushing it around the existing silicone to the metal surface as a test.
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sloeffle
Minister of Fire
I guess we all know who not to buy a unit from. It's pretty sad that they can't even answer their phone.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
No doubt...even Yukon still answers their phones...and they have been reduced to selling replacement parts to USA and furnaces to parts of Canada...
I am going to pickup some of the Permatex steel weld also to have on hand. The JB weld high heat product I pickup looks very similar to the Permatex steel weld it just suppose to be for high heat locations. Were this leak is its getting 500-600 degrees when the burn is going. If I try the steel weld I will drain it down below the leak to give it a fighting chance. I sure didn't think with less than 9 heating seasons {with the first leak} I would be fighting leaks every couple years. This is a lot of extra time and money you sure are not planning on a long term investment. That's why I spend the extra money on this unit up front to keep from having these kind of issues. At the time I bought this one I could of spend two thirds less on other units and they probably would have lasted as long as this one has. So if I make it to spring then what ? Last leak cost me three grand and that didn't count all the time involved in this process and propane I burned because of the down time. How many more three grands do you spend before enough is enough? Looking for ideas.
I took a snapshot of the instructions. Its only rated for upto 250f constant and 300f intermittent.
500-600f will be to hot for this product.
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Thanks for the information. Sounds like I better pass on the Permatex steel weld. I will keep the JB weld high heat handy if needed.
gfirkus
Member
Belzona makes a high temp version. Top of the line stuff. Drill a hole at each end of crack and bevel crack a bit to get more surface area to adhere to. If you have it welded again, be sure they are drilling a hole at the end of each crack, and try a pre/post heat . Bevel if it’s not getting full penetration.
Looks like Belzona makes some nice products. This leak is no were near the location of the last leak. The welder that did the last repair did a excellent job. I hope I can get him back this spring when I drain it and try to repair it. Not ready to spend fifteen to twenty grand on a new boiler. I sure wish I wouldn't bought this one but I drank the Koolaid on this deal. At eleven heating seasons I am no were near the break even point and at my age don't want to start with a new boiler.
Not at this time. Its full of water and running so no pictures of the inside to see whats going on with the leak. We will try to get some posted this spring when we drain it and get inside.
Eureka
Feeling the Heat
One thing I’m wondering: Is Garn a defunct company now? What the hell is going on with that? For how people on here drool over how great those things are, I sure have read a lot to the contrary over the years, especially considering the crazy amount of extra time, space, and money that must go into installing one.
Shame on them. I don’t think enough attention is being paid to that part of this.
Shame on them. I don’t think enough attention is being paid to that part of this.
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maple1
Minister of Fire
I dont recall hearing what the EPA stuff did to them. Didn't bother trying to find out tho either. I think this is the only one I've read about with leak issues. Did see a few posts about the anode rod thing the last couple few years. Wonder if there is some kind of imbalance in the fan stuff on this one that is making weird harmonics?
Eureka
Feeling the Heat
There’s some other leakers out there, although probably very rare. I jump around too much to recall where I’ve seen others, but there was one on Craigslist for a while that had a similar story to this one, and I think they were just trying to get somebody to get the thing out of there for free. If I remember right, they referenced Garn being of zero help to them as well.
Like with anything, the ‘complaint box’ that is the internet amplifies the negatives and muffles the positives, so my opinion is worth what it cost.
Considering the rarity of leaks, I’d almost expect Garn to do more to help.
Like with anything, the ‘complaint box’ that is the internet amplifies the negatives and muffles the positives, so my opinion is worth what it cost.
Considering the rarity of leaks, I’d almost expect Garn to do more to help.
Another up date. After several calls and a email Garn finally called back. They are still in business. Nothing has changed from the first leak two years ago I am on my own. During our talk on the phone I did learn one thing about their manufacturing process that I didn't know and if I would have when I bought it in 20 09 I wouldn't have own a Garn. Its like all products do the most research you can before you lay your money down. Of course all of this is my opinion and you get what your paid for it.
Eureka
Feeling the Heat
Just a quick up date. 2/10/21. My high temp silicone fix failed during a full tilt burn. The silicone lifted off during a burn cycle and I had water shooting out of the leak on the blower housing. I let the three hour burn finish. Wire brush off the leaking area and used some more plumber putty first to slow the leak to a seep and put more high temp silicone back over the leaking area. This AM the leaking area is dry. Hope it holds for a while as we have minus zero nights and zero days coming for close to the a week. I sure don't want to have to drain it down right now to try some JB weld high heat on it.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
Not sure where this leak is...probably in some hard to access corner if I had to guess...but I'm wondering about a longer term repair...something like a sheet of HT silicone, smeared with some HT silicone sealer, and then rare earth magnets on top to really hold it all in place.
Look up "magnetic masking for powder coating" for more ideas...
Look up "magnetic masking for powder coating" for more ideas...
All some good ideas but it is in a a hard to access corner on a curve that gets very hot when you running a burn cycle. The next time this weather breaks if I can make it that far I will drain probably a thousand gallons of water out of it to get down below the leak and wire brush it and sand it good and try some JB weld high heat epoxy on it. Its tough to get any thing to stick when you have water leaking out.
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
It would be tough to do that on this. I have done that on big refrigeration systems when we were having issues with the solder pulling in the joints and it worked very well.
How about welding it on the outside temperaly till summer comes and you can decide on fixing it on the inside or replace with an alternate heating source/boiler.It might not be the prettiest weld to get the leak fixed on the outside,but you would be able to finish off the season with piece of mind that a patch isn't going to fall off.
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