[Shop-talk] Ancient furnace with cracked manifold

[Jim Stone]

My daughter and her boyfriend have bought a turn of the century house with an ancient coal-fired furnace that was long ago converted to natural gas.  It works fine and they’d like to put off replacing it for as long as possible while they invest their money in other parts of the house.  However, the furnace has a cast iron exhaust manifold that is cracked pretty badly and it scares the hell out of me.  Following are some screenshots from a video she sent me, starting with the overall exhaust.



You can see the top of the manifold in the lower right.  Here is a side view:



The orange goop was applied by a furnace tech they hired, who said he really shouldn’t have touched it at all but did what he could.l. However, here is a shot just below the goop:



And, a shot from the other side:



As you can see - assuming the photos come through - the manifold is totally shot, although it feels solid and doesn’t appear to be in danger of falling off.  In theory, it could be removed and taken someplace that does cast iron welding, but I suspect that would be a royal pain and not guaranteed to succeed.  She has a CO2 detector in the basement, but I will be visiting her next week and want to try to do more.  “More” might be trying to convince them to bite the bullet and replace the system immediately, but I have also thought about treating it like an automotive exhaust system and trying to patch it to get them by for a season or two.  What are the group's thoughts on something like JB Weld High Heat putty (https://www.amazon.com/J-B-Weld-8297-HighHeat-Degree/dp/B007PP26RI/ref=pd_bxgy_2/138-6104268-8394138?pd_rd_w=nQ3PU&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=2F076DNFFJBZ1G9PK3TY&pd_rd_r=623d1e00-f712-4380-897c-474fe9ee6337&pd_rd_wg=1YSqH&pd_rd_i=B007PP26RI&psc=1) and/or their high heat wrap (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N582CBY/ref=emc_b_5_t)?

Thanks,
Jim (and Sara)




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