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Pressuretrol not activating in a Old National radiator corp steam heater

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atom
atom Member Posts: 4
in Strictly Steam
I have a steam heater which was made by National Radiator Corp. (very old but has worked perfectly)
The pressuretrol is not being activated and the boiler does not cycle and shut the boiler off and on. Is this happening because the pigtail is clogged? The tech used pressure with co2 gas to clean this but the pressuretrol still does not cycle.
In front of the boiler there is a pressure gauge that indicates pressure. When the pressuretrol was cycling fine the pressure roughly was about 2 to 3 pounds when it cycled and never went over that. Now I see the pressure building up on the dial obviously as the pressuretrol does not turn the boiler off. If I turn off (let's say around 5psi) the boiler the pressure indicator still keep rising? Is this because the pressure is not being released to the exit pipe that carries the steam? Please advice

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  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,478
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    Old pressure gauges can get a little funny but the fact the boiler used to cycle and doesn't any more gives cause for concern. Did the tech verify the pressuretrol can in fact shut the boiler down; that pressuretrol could be bad.

    take a picture of the pressuretrol front and post it here.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • atom
    atom Member Posts: 4
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    Yes the pressuretrol micro switch works fine if manually moved as it turns off the boiler. This is why I wondered if the pigtail is still clogged. Yes indeed the gauge may not be functioning properly. This is a newer Honeywell pressuretrol that was installed on this unit about two years ago.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,478
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    if I have any I doubt about my pressure control, I unwire it (ckt brkr OFF) and remove it. I then try to blow through the pigtail, if it's clear you will know.

    If it is blocked or I have to blow hard to clear it, I remove the pigtail and clean or replace it. I also use some stiff wire to clean around the inside of the threaded hole in the casting to get rid of any gunk around that hole.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • KC_Jones
    KC_Jones Member Posts: 5,739
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    Could be a blockage in the pressuretrol itself. Might be a good idea to remove it and check the port in the bottom on the off chance something got in there.
    2014 Weil Mclain EG-40
    EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Boiler Control
    Boiler pictures updated 2/21/15
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
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    It is most likely a blocked pigtail. Do as BobC suggests and if you can't blow into it, take it completely off and clean it out. When your tech blow air into it, he may have just compacted the gunk in the loop.
  • atom
    atom Member Posts: 4
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    Thanks for all the kind comments. This unit is not easy to dismantle and physically see the pigtail. The port that comes out to the pressuretrol is all what you could get access to even if you pull out the casing. It maybe that the pigtail is inside the boiler assembly. By taking the troll out from the pipe I was able to see that no steam was coming out from pipe. So it was obviously blocked. I had an old wiper blade thin flat stainless steel blade insert that we used to clean the port that feeds the pressuretrol. It flexes well and can be fed into the tube to clean out any trapped gunk. After cleaning we observed the steam flow through the pipe when the boiler was briefly turned on. The pressuretrol was then reconnected and is now working as it should. As far as the gauge was concerned it seems as if it is misbehaving, will followup and post if that has stabilized as well.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,478
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    I'm glad to hear you unblocked that pigtail, I would be leary of using that company that blew the pigtail clear again.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • atom
    atom Member Posts: 4
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    Yeah unfortunately some of the techs these days don't seem to use any common sense to check things in logical way.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,062
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    The CO2 pressure probably was shot into the bottom of the control. Tech didn't maybe know the function of the pigtail.
    Hopefully not a lot of pressure used as it might damage the control.

    Being how you are here, Atom, you might show more of your system piping and tell us about your main steam pipe vents. :)

    I know you are happy with the system, but some small upgrades might make it better.

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