Steam Boiler Low Water Cut off cycles constantly

owahnschafft

Here is a photo of newly installed Boiler. The law water cut off cycles constantly. Any thoughts?

JUGHNE

I suggest you move your question to the strictly steam section of the wall. Post these pictures and more from farther back.

Questions: Is that the installation manual taped to the top of the boiler and did your installer ever open it?

Do you have any pipes returning to the boiler that are at floor level. They would be copper or black pipe. You may have a counter flow steam system.

What pressure setting was it left at, (box with the window).Close up that would be good.

Be prepared for more questions.

Fred

I can tell you it is not piped correctly. That's the reason Jughne asked if your installer even opened the installation manual. It would be a good idea for you to open it and look at the diagram that shows how it should be installed.
Back to your original question; Did your installer use teflon tape on the LWCO fitting that screws into the boiler block? If so, that needs to be removed. Those probe type LWCO's need to ground to the boiler block. Teflon Tape prevents that from happening. If that's not the problem, it could be a loose connection, a defective LWCO probe or unit.

owahnschafft

It is unfortunately a "single pipe " system. There was not supposedly a return coming back to the boiler in the original system (this boiler was a replacement of a snowman) .

vaporvac

Hi @owahnschafft1 . Just to clarify a "single pipe" system refers to to number of pipes going into a radiator, not the boiler or system piping. There's always a return coming back to the boiler; that's how the condensate gets back to be reused. It's clear your steam person doesn't know much, but at least it's done in iron and can be fixed. However, if you don't have a return , that may explain part of the LWCO problem. Where does the condensate go... a drain? Your boiler will rot out in no time if that's the case, and I'd hate to see your water bill.

I originally thought you might have the Cyclegard auto refill that stops the burner after 10 min to check for foaming, but now I'm worried about the returns. Can you post some more pics from a wider angle and be sure to include on of the pressuretrol as requested above.

Jamie Hall

One of the problems -- if Fred's suggestion about Teflon tape doesn't apply -- is the way that riser and equalizer are piped: when the boiler fires, and water carried up by the steam (and there will be a lot) will bypass the equalizer on the way up and get out into the steam mains, lowering the water level in the boiler until the boiler shuts down -- when the water will come back, and the cycle will repeat.

If that were piped correctly, the riser would come up perhaps 24 inches or so -- perhaps a bit more; you have headroom -- and then go horizontally over to the equalizer in a larger size pipe -- one pipe size larger -- and then down into the equalizer. Actually not quite horizontal -- it should slope slightly towards the equalizer. The steam main would come off that "header" and go on up to the mains just under the floor.

I won't guarantee that this change will cure the problem, but it surely won't hurt -- and it will get drier and better steam out in the rest of the system.

Do make sure your pressure is set about as low as that pressurestat will go.

JUGHNE

I think what OP means by single pipe is that there is only one pipe from the boiler connected to the original house piping system. If so than this must be a counterflow system which really would compound the near boiler piping issues that are obvious. All condensate would flow straight down into any steam trying to leave the boiler.

The LWCO operation may be the easiest thing to fix compared to everything else that is cobbled.

Need more pictures, both sides of boiler and farther back.

vaporvac

Thanks for the clarification/explanation @JUGHNE . I thought maybe the op was just confusing terms, but your explanation makes more sense.

KC_Jones

owahnschafft said:

It is unfortunately a "single pipe " system. There was not supposedly a return coming back to the boiler in the original system (this boiler was a replacement of a snowman) .

That has nothing to do with the situation and if the installer led you to believe this they don't know what they are talking about. The boiler piping is wrong and is almost definitely causing the low water situation (assuming a counterflow system). If it is indeed a counterflow system there should be a drip off the end of the main and the boiler connection should tie in from the top beyond that drip. The drip is then the pipe that ties back into the bottom of the boiler. I don't even see an end of main drip though I suspect from what I can see the installer didn't understand this and tied the drip into the top of that feed. This boiler will NEVER work properly the way it's piped. I agree take a few more pictures from a bit further back so we can see more of the system piping above that boiler. I seriously hope you haven't made final payment to the contractor.

Abracadabra

Pressuretrol setting seems a bit high if it's not a vaporstat.

unclejohn

What you need too do right now is turn the yellow handle gas cock 90* and call the boiler police.