Broken Boiler for Faema President

#1: Post by **Sebek** » August 23rd, 2016, 5:46 pm

Hello,

Thats my first time on forum. Hello everybody. I have big troubles with boiler. I almost finish renovation of Faema President. They heave broken HX in boiler. You know low temperature in garage. I buy this machine with broken boiler.

Foto before :

foto hx

Foto after :

Maybe somebody heave boiler for this machine's without lid or know how to fix this problem.

Thank's Sebastian from Poland

#2: Post by **TomC** » August 23rd, 2016, 8:32 pm

Stunning job so far!

There are a lot of folks who like to tackle these beautiful classics. Not often a 3 group, usually the 1 and 2 groups. But I'm sure someone will chime in shortly.

Have you exhausted your resources for repairing the boiler locally?

#3: Post by **CoffeeBar** » August 24th, 2016, 2:48 am

After the restoration this machine aesthetically just look Awesome.

#4: Post by **zeb** » August 24th, 2016, 6:08 am

Hard work but it is doable, you need to remove the broken copper pipe by cutting it in two parts. Replace by a brand new and weld back the two connections. Sure it's easier to tell than to do...

#5: Post by **dmccallum** » August 24th, 2016, 6:38 am

Wow, not sure I've seen anything like that before. Great looking restoration thus far though.

I might suggest that you could leave the pipe in place as it is, it will have a hole in it anyway to allow water from the boiler into the HX(?) - just knock the split back to the original form to close the gap and I don't believe it would make much/any difference.

I would be more concerned about the condition of the other joints where the HX meets the boiler wall. These may need re-jointing with silver-solder if things are bad, but maybe get away with sealing any tiny leaks with Loctite 290. It may not be as bad as it seems.

#6: Post by **dominico** » August 24th, 2016, 12:10 pm

That cleanup job is awesome; it's a reminder to me that I've been slacking on keeping up the aesthetics on my machine.

Good luck on the boiler; it's the one thing that makes me nervous about the continuing lifespan of my machine, if I ever have to try to find a replacement.

#7: Post by **drgary** » August 24th, 2016, 6:19 pm

dominico wrote:Good luck on the boiler; it's the one thing that makes me nervous about the continuing lifespan of my machine, if I ever have to try to find a replacement.

For something as valuable as a classic Faema, is cost out of reach to fabricate or adapt a replacement boiler or take one to a welding shop for a high quality repair?

#8: Post by **homeburrero** » August 24th, 2016, 8:31 pm

dmccallum wrote: I might suggest that you could leave the pipe in place as it is, it will have a hole in it anyway to allow water from the boiler into the HX(?) - just knock the split back to the original form to close the gap and I don't believe it would make much/any difference.

If it is an open thermosyphon, with a little hole in the "HX" structure down below the water line, that would make repairing it a little easier. But rumor has it (see Arnoud's comment - Faema Lambro ) that some Faema Presidents are true HX, with a cold water injector into the lower fittings. I think this might possibly be one of those because otherwise I'm not sure the tube would have frozen and split when in storage if it already had a hole in it for the boiler water feed. A picture from the other side of the boiler, or a picture of the lower fittings might help clear that question up.

#9: Post by **dominico** » August 24th, 2016, 10:20 pm

drgary wrote:For something as valuable as a classic Faema, is cost out of reach to fabricate or adapt a replacement boiler or take one to a welding shop for a high quality repair?

I hope not, I'd certainly do all I can to get it properly functioning again; that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a nerve wracking experience though.

#10: Post by **dominico** » January 14th, 2017, 8:36 pm

I'm sure you are well past this point, since this thread is months old already, but I have one of my boiler caps off to replace a gasket and it reminded me of this thread.

The inside of my boiler looks exactly like this, with the exception that I don't have a giant split through any of my thermosiphon tubes. Essentially any groups running through that thermosiphon should still work as long as that crack is completely submerged. The difficulty I see here is that the crack opens up right below the "Massimo" level of the boiler. Essentially, if you want to run the machine without fixing it, you will have to keep your water level at the Massimo line or slightly above to keep the thermosiphon from stalling.

As an interesting side note, the tubes in my boiler are completely solid. There is another set of holes at the bottom of the boiler right next to each tube which are then connected below the bottom by pipes which feed the hot leg of the thermosiphon. The cold leg dumps into the top of the tube.