Comments on: Munchkin Boiler 80M

By: Anthony Graziano

Anthony Graziano — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:29:20 +0000

After readings Tom’s saga about his POS Munchkin, I once again realize that some heating contractor really does not know his trade. Your problem of cross contaminaton could of been avoided if he read the venting section. Any installer who knows his work ( and a little common sense), knows that products of combustion must not re-circulate into the fresh air intake. I wonder what the piping looks like. How about the circulators? And the best thing is the contractor who does it for a living can’t get it right, so now, you the homeowner/end user are going to service you Munchkin!LOL GOOD LUCK!! You and many others are victims of contractors who pretend they know what they are doing when it comes to installing a Munchkin.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:15:58 +0000

I too wish that I had never purchased a Muchkin. I have replaced three mother boards and one blower. I also had $6,000.00 of water damage when the Wirsbo zone manifold leaked water and destroyed the living room ceiling. The mother board and blower problems were directly related to poor installation. The intake air and exhaust gas exit were piped too close to each other using a venting kit more suited to a forced air furnace. Highly corrosive exhaust gas was being sucked into the intake air supply and recirculated back into the boiler. Corrosive byproducts collected on the mother board shorting it out. The blower impeller is made of a composite material which becomes brittle after prolonged contact with corrosive exhaust gas. The blower impeller failed and scattered pieces throughout the boiler enclosure. These problems were corrected after months of negotiations with the installer who claimed that he had followed Munchkin’s installation instructions. The installation instruction for our unit calls for the air intake to be no closer than 8 inches to the exhaust and no further than 36 inches. Based on my experience the farther the two are apart the better. Mine are now 30 inches apart.

I do the annual combustion chamber cleaning myself. The instruction manual is fairly clear regarding this effort and I save $150.00 per year. It takes about 2 hours to complete the task. I have also had a number of outages due to the flame sensor, which on my unit must be cleaned twice per year even though we are firing natural gas. Cleaning the flame sensor is discussed in the instruction manual under “Faults” and not in the annual maintenance section.

In summary: There is a monster in the basement!

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:31:11 +0000

Finally got everything done after 2years of sweat equity building are dream house ,and actualy living in the house for about a year are Munchkin t80 boiler went out and left us with no heat or hotwater(this was back in September).Being a builder I understand that new apppliances can go bad. So I called the installer and The service rep on the phone was trying to tell me it was the control board that was bad and that it was’nt under warrranty and it was going to cost me around 600.00 dollars to get it replaced plus a 186.00 dollar service call. After the service tech arrived and I demanded he first replace the blower ( because the F13 code says it can be either the blower or circuit board)and the blower was under warranty he hooked it all upand it worked great ,all the while telling me and showing me how important it was to clean the combustion chamber and check other connections ,venting ,drains etc.All of wich where never told to me during the installation.Now this morning Iwake up to a cold house and a cold shower again.After another phone call and being told it was going to be tomorrow before anyone can look at it .I decide to start investigating this POS,. Reading the reviews online and hearing all the upset owners of these Munchkin Boilers I decide since the service guy wont be out till tomorrow and the manufacture surrely is’nt going to do anything that I will find my own control board .Thinking that it had to be it because the blower was just replaced .I found one in Seattle for 250.00thru a Mechanical company where they where very helpful , I wont mention names because now after installing the new board the Boiler still does’nt work (and I’am hoping to return it).Now with 3 very upset females in the house I guess I will still be having the service tech out again to replace a 2 month old blower ,I suppose they’ll still want there service fee again. Must be time to take a trip into the owners office and ask him if this is what I bought 25,000.00 dollars worth of heatting and hot water .. Would be great if Munchkin would step up and replace these units or parts with at least a 10year full coverage warranty.If there’s one thing I’ve learned if you do’nt keep your previos customers happy ,you might as well kiss the future ones goodbye .

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:07:16 +0000

This boiler was recommended and installed by a big Washington, D.C. company, JONES AND WOODS. DO NOT HIRE THEM. Lots of problems because basically they had no idea what they were doing and lied to me about all the experience they have had installing these units, as evidenced by the elementary mistakes they made. Finally got the Munchkin rep. on a site visit and he confirmed that they had left out MAJOR components, like the secondary circulator pump on the supply side, as plainly specified in the install diagram. Learned lots from the rep, who was great, both about improvements in the Rev. 2 version of this unit as well recommendations: this little baby puts out LOTS of water as condensate, which must be directed back into the unit by having the exhaust pipe tilted back into the house. Steams outside like a locomotive in cold weather. The condensate, however, is HIGH ACID and must be neutralized with a kit as over time it will eat through even a cast iron drain. Condensate outlet hooked directly to a floor drain is a good idea. I’m using a standard plastic condensate pump to get the water up and over into a sink, and am worried that with the PH adjuster downstream of this pump, how long can the pump last? Also, how much net energy savings can there be, given the THREE electrical devices necesssary to run this moon unit? (2 circulators and the pump).
Also, absolutely has to be taken apart and “combusion residue” that looks like coffee grounds cleaned out of unit ANNUALLY, further affecting operational cost savings.

BE ADVISED: In spite of what Heat Transfer Products says explicitly on their website there is no WARRANTY registration program (!) and they no longer over the “certified training” programs they say are necessary for warranty
eligibility. Appalling, but true.

Next conversations about this experience is with my lawyer.

By: motordavid

motordavid — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:46:58 +0000

Not apples to apples, but we have been living with a Munchkin 199M condensing boiler, since home was built new in 2001: it may be the least reliable and most costly product I have ever owned. 3 main pc boars, 3 blower motors, countless other parts, 3-4 service calls per season, etc. The dlr/installer has done dozens of Munchkins; most are ok they say…a few like ours are complete lemons. Heat Transfer offers zero backup, consideration or even sympathy. We have spent thousands of dollars over the past 8 years, and the little piece of junk always seems to go “down” at the worse possible time. We use it for domestic hot water, in addition to heat, and the continual loss of DHW is no fun. I am at end of my rope. I would not take a new Munchkin if it was free. I am shopping other brands for replacement and, other dlrs/installers, but all the brands promise the same jive, imo.

By: Barbara Byers

Barbara Byers — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:03:09 +0000

The Munchkin m-80 is an absolutet nightmare. I empathize with Shaun on the “fault code hell.” My index finger is numb from reseting this piece of garbage. Worse, not only does the manufacturere not stand behind it, neither does my contractor. Spread the word to anyone you know, whether or not they are in the market for a boiler. Blacklist Munchkin and Vastola Heating & Air Conditioning in Buffalo, NY.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:37:36 +0000

I echo the comments on the blower motor. Had this installed in January 2007. Blower motor went in January 2009. It was covered under their 3 year warranty but cost me $350 in labor. I assume I’m out of luck next time short of legal action, and it sounds like there will be a next time.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:59:01 +0000

Wow. This is not encouraging. I am in the middle of fault code hell. An F00 fault code on my 80M Munchkin boiler is thrown each time I start her up. I am trying to understand what to look at next and how to trouble-shoot but am having difficulty. It’s late…(and cold) so i will tackle tomorrow. I should also say that I am consulting the various manuals I’ve found online. We purchased this house last March and this is the first problems we’ve encountered. Any advice is welcome… Cheers!

By: Bill M.

Bill M. — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:41:41 +0000

Same here. I’m going on my 3rd blower unit in 4 years. Circuit board also went out after year and half. NOT covered. I bought this unit (piece) brand new when I built my house Munchkin does NOT stand behind their product. VERY VERY POOR customer service as well. They told me there is just nothing else we can do for you sir, and hung up. Same as Nic, BAD investment. Go with Weil Mclain

By: Nic Nichols

Nic Nichols — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:21:29 +0000

Had this installed a few years ago, and it was one of the worst investments I have ever made. The blower unit has failed every winter since I have had the system. I would not recommend this unit to anyone. They would not honor the warranty, and would shipped the part out two days after I ordered it last year. I am in the process today of installing the FOURTH blower unit.