Author Topic: E-Classic's Fusion Chamber (Read 5073 times)

trebor64 · « **on:** April 02, 2009, 11:25:54 pm »

Hi all,

I'm posting new pictures from Hackberry's fusion chamber replacement "venture". I thought it would be a good thing to start a new thread. So here are the picture on which Hackberry will comment later on. Cheers /Trebor

New FusionChamber 1

New FusionChamber 2

New FusionChamber 3

New FusionChamber 4

Bricks removed from firebox

Fusion chamber removed from firebox

leeallen · « **Reply #1 on:** April 03, 2009, 04:24:45 am »

How does one pull out the fusion chamber? does the new one just sit in place or does it bolt in?

Hackberry · « **Reply #2 on:** April 03, 2009, 11:01:49 am »

Thanks for posting the pictures trebor!

Ok here we go. The first thing you need to do is get the stove cleaned up and let it cool down to the 160 range. Then remove one side of the fire brick. Then remove the two bricks in the bottom. Be careful not to break them. ( they cost $100.00 each.) We broke the one on the left hand side, but put it back in anyway. There is a rope seal that comes out next after that outs remove the caulk thats around the fusion chamber. There is a little steel teat in the top of the hole that hooks the chamber into the fire box. Pull the fusion chamber up and towards you at the same time and it pops out. The fire brick in the reaction chamber also needs to come out and be cleaned. Then re install the new one. Total time is about 2 hrs. Now for the bad news. The steel in the fusion chamber is only 3/8's and it looks like it's cold rolled. My chamber failed on the welds. They were not built up and did not penetrate the steel. The new one looked the same so we will all be doing this again. CB needs to address this with better steel and better welding and fix this fast. Sorry for the bad news,

Hackberry

stumper · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2009, 01:11:25 pm »

Looks like you cn add me to the list. It appear that I have a rupture starting. I can see a buble and feel a crack on the bottom of the fusion chamber. Small right now. No loss of performance. I am not sure it is even cracked through. Hopefully, I can make it another month till heating season is over.

wi woodcutter · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2009, 06:07:06 pm »

I sure hope that Central Boiler makes this right with you guys! Seems like a lot of messing around. I would be calling Central Boiler and telling them your problems if you haven't already.

antos_ketcham · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2009, 06:52:30 pm »

So
Pete

stumper · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2009, 07:08:23 pm »

Thing that worries me is that I have not used mine very hard. I have only burnt 4.5 cord and I do not have any of the warping other seem to have.

antos_ketcham · « **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2009, 07:23:45 pm »

I've only burned 5.

logwalker · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2009, 10:57:51 pm »

When I saw the pics of that chamber my first reaction was it is a leak waiting to happen. Too many corners and stress points. They must be pulling their hair out at the home office.

rondojod · « **Reply #9 on:** April 07, 2009, 03:48:43 pm »

To update you on my boiler, I had creosote leaking out the back tubes which landed on the bottom solenoid and caused the damper to stick which burned out the solenoid and in turn kept blowing fuses. Put in new one and alls working. During the shutdown I cleaned out my firebox and found my fusion chamber ruptured. When I started the fire I could not get the reaction chamber to burn which in turn took over two hours for it to come up to temp and smoked constantly. When I got back from work it was working right. Now for how I feel about this: this is my second boiler this year after having constant problems with the first one and finally after 4 months of problems and finding welds broke and fusion chamber blown they at Central Boiler finally admitted they had a problem and decided to give me a new one. Now after only 8 weeks of burning it has happened all over again. Its about time Central Boiler admitted fault and instead of just giving us new ones to replace them, work on a solution to fix this problem. At this rate I would have to put at least three per heating season. These stoves were supposed to have been in the making for four years and well tested. If thats the case why are we having these problems? As far as their engineers telling that they will not be effected by these ruptures believe me it does effect them. I agree with antos ketcham that Central Boiler needs to be pushed into doing something and not trying to sugar coat us with new ones. If Cental Boiler would at least communicate with there customers and tell us they are working on fixing this problem it might help.I for one am not happy replacing mine just to know I will have to do it all over again.

stumper · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2009, 04:35:13 pm »

I sure hope they figure this out and do the right thing. I chose this company becasue it a larger well established company. As long as they make it right in the end I'll be happy.

I do find it interesting that I have not heard of any issues from Heatmor or any of the other companies. Central Boiler beat Heatmor to the market, but did they do it by cutting corners. I sure hope not.

rondojod · « **Reply #11 on:** April 07, 2009, 05:17:02 pm »

Thats my concern too. So far all I've seen out of this company is them ignoring issues. Either that or their keeping everthing hush hush. It's my understanding that they don't even share much information with their dealers so we're pretty much kept in the dark about if or what they are doing to correct these problems!

thecfarm · « **Reply #12 on:** April 07, 2009, 07:18:44 pm »

I feel sorry for you guys.If I had half of the trouble,some of you are having,I would be speaking to a lot higher up than a dealer.They cost a good chunk of change,not to work right.I feel they are way too complex. I looked at the regular ones and did not care for then either.I have always felt the Central Boiler just sells them and don't want to hear from you again.Kinda sad when some of you have to swap ideas back and forth to fix a problem when CB is no help at all.I have heard of other people having trouble and the dealer was no help at all.

JJ · « **Reply #13 on:** April 07, 2009, 09:38:02 pm »

Get any good pictures of the old ruptured reaction chamber?
Is the rupture in same place every time?

JJ

stumper · « **Reply #14 on:** April 08, 2009, 04:09:44 pm »

No, my dealer told me that they rupture both high and low. Mine is low.

rondojod · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2009, 04:50:42 pm »

On my first boiler it ruptured on the bottom and the top. On this boiler it has ruptured the back of it. I am also having trouble downloading Java Uploader as I am on dial up but if someone wants to post my pictures, I could e-mail them to you if I had your e-mail adress.

leeallen · « **Reply #16 on:** April 09, 2009, 04:40:41 am »

I would love to see those photos Rondojod.
I have trouble posting pics on this site as well.

thecfarm · « **Reply #17 on:** April 09, 2009, 06:56:43 am »

If you guys are having trouble with java,try the old way to load pictures.I see it's still there.You really should learn how to down size pictures with you having dial up.I'm on dial up too and have told someone no more pictures until you learn how to down size.Takes like 3 hours for one picture to upload.If you guys are having trouble,we will help you.I had a hard time with it too.A little help and there was no stopping me.Looks like a lot at first,but it gets easier and easier the more you do it.

trebor64 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2009, 02:58:35 pm »

Hi all,

Posting pics from rondojod's fusion chamber. Another case of rupture. Yesterday I again cleaned my e-classic to make sure there is no rupture. For now it seems to be holding ok..... but I feel the clock is ticking

...... not a good feeling at all. Wishing good luck to rondojod and anyone with this problem.
Cheers /Trebor

rondojod' fusion chamber 1

rondojod' fusion chamber 2

rondojod' fusion chamber 3

rondojod · « **Reply #19 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:26:06 pm »

A little update on my fusion chamber. I e-mailed Central Boiler on Sunday asking if they were working on improving there fusion chamber, as of now no response. in my e-mail I expressed my concern on their fusion chamber, door warping, firebricks in reaction chamber breaking, by pass door opens real hard and this all happening within 5 to 8 weeks.
If this happens within this short period of time how would we expect any long length of service? I am now wondering if the EPA would have qualified them if they knew how bad they smoked when the fusion chamber ruptures? Which at this time I also wonder how many are using there boilers not even realizing that there fusion chamber is ruptured. If anyone is having a hard time getting them up to temp and excessive smoking then chances are your fusion chamber has ruptured.
When they are burning correctly you should see very little smoke, almost invisable. I for one believe that we need to group together and force their hands to make sure that they are working on a solution to their problems. I do not want to be constantly replacing my fusion chamber. I would also assume that the EPA would have set some sort of time frame for a constant burn without smoking before they qualified them!

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Author Topic: E-Classic's Fusion Chamber (Read 5073 times)