My project list is so long, I figure I will never die.  But, this Thanksgiving break I was knockin'em down.  Pictures hung.  Telephone wires run.  Toys glued back together.  I was sailing along.  The Traeger was in need of cleaning as well.  I usually put it off until I get a little bit of smoke smell in the basement and that was happening on Saturday.  So, Sunday morning it didn't get its ration of pellets.  I let it burn out and by afternoon it was cooled off.  I pulled the lid off the smoke box and went to work with the shop vac.  Then, started pulling out the turbulators.  Or trying, I should say, because about half of them seemed stuck.  It wasn't until I got to about the sixth one that I started getting a clue what was going on.  It came right out, but it also came out wet.

A wet turbulator means the boiler is leaking.  Horrible news.  It was not a happy moment.  I went ahead and cleaned it up, noticing the brush came up wet each time I ran it up and down the tube.  You know how it is when you sweat copper pipes and sometimes you will have a very small pin hole leak.  I don't know about you but I tend to just leave those leaks.  A couple of days later they tend to seal themselves up.  Maybe not for the next hundred years, but long enough for me.  I was really hoping that if I put fire back to this boiler, this leak would be the same way.  Hey, I guy has to have some hope in life, right?

When the fire is burning, the water boils away. But, water on the floor accumulates after the fire goes out.

I took to the forum where I posted: http://www.iburncorn.com/forum/33-pinnacle-stoves-traeger/909-guessing-this-is-really-bad-news The consensus was pretty clear.  It was repairable, but not where it sat.  It was going to have to come apart.  And a day's worth of labor no matter who does it, I was looking at doing it myself.  I asked for advice on the forum.

Cutting the copper pipe just below the shut off valve.

I have to thank Sting, who haunts the Traeger topic here at IBC.  Nothing short of a set of instructions was mailed to me by Sting.  I followed them well.  I have a few modifications to these instructions along the way, but it was an  outstanding breakdown of what I had to do, the order I had to do it in, and where to begin.  Amazing he was able to produce this just out of his head, without seeing my situation.  Again, I thank you.

Sadly, my boiler was not installed with sufficient thought to future trouble.  Even though I own two boilers, there is no boiler bypass on either unit.    So, I didn't have the ability to just toggle some valves and fire up the other boiler.  Instead, I have to cut and solder together 1-1/4" pipe to build a bypass now.

Pumps removed from the back of the boiler.

After the water is disconnected I first pulled off the hopper.  There was a double row of sheet metal screws inside the hopper up near the top.  Then there four bolts around the base.  I am not sure this hopper really would have had to be removed separately.  If there are two of you working, I would just disconnect the hopper auger assembly from side of the boiler.  Supporting it from underneath with some wood blocks and a person on each side, it would save you a step.

Snap Disk with its cover removed, exposing the wires.

Under the cover of the Aquastat, the wires that must be removed.

If you do this first, you will be sitting good here.  If you remove your hopper, the next step is to remove the feed system.  In my older boiler, this is also the location of the draft fan.  This whole assembly can be taken off as one chunk.  Just remove the four nuts around where this square feed tube enters the boiler.   It can be slid out.  It isn't really too heavy.  But, like I mentioned, if you are going to leave the hopper attached, you need two people, and some degree of caution.  Supporting the assembly from underneeth would allow you to slide it out more or less square, until it is free.

Feed assembly removed

Parts with labels of where they came from

The stripped down version, sheet metal and insulation removed from boiler

I had to move on to the next step.  With my respirator in place, I un-wired and then removed the boiler insulation.  Mine was aluminum taped just above the firebox door.  Take that tape off before you unwrap the insulation.  There is a lot of dust.  Don't breathe it.  I took the shop vac and cleaned the insulation dust off the outer surface of the boiler.

Vacuum off that insulation dust.

So, it is all a-part.  Next step I will have it sand blasted and it will be determined how extensive the damage is.  That will get me a cost to repair.  Then, I can compare prices to a replacement part from Pinnacle/Traeger.

The boiler tank is out and ready to head off to the sand blasters.