Gas boiler slow leak, 5 gallons a week. How bad is this in regards to rust / corrosion?

alheim

I've got an all-new system:
- NG Burnham ES2-series boiler (cast iron)
- Pex-Al-Pex to wall-mounted panel radiators via manifold & home runs
- Auto-fill valve & LWCO

The system has been live for about 3 weeks now.

I have a slow drip which is filling almost a 5-gal bucket a week. My understanding is that introducing new water into the system (automatically via the fill valve) means new oxygen and system corrosion.

I WILL fix this as soon as I can, within a couple weeks. Just really busy at the moment.

How much damage have I done? Should I stop the system? Should I bleed the rads to remove air that has accumulated? Once it is fixed, should I flush the whole system to remove any rust? Would lowering the boiler setpoint slow the corrosion?

Big Al

kcopp

Its not the end of the world but I would not let it go more than a month.
Yes flush the system.
Yes I would add some fernox cleaner to the system then flush it out after a week.
Set your set point as low as you can while still keeping house warm. This will increase the efficiency and prob increase your comfort as the run time will be longer.

hot_rod

How's your fill water quality. Do you have a way to test hardness or TDS. If it is good quality a small leak should not be a deal breaker.

Did you flush and clean the system?

A hydronic cleaner, followed by a flush, fill and hydronic conditioner is always a good idea, especially with less than ideal fill water.

Sooner rather than later on the leak repair, you are adding whatever minerals are in the water, but also O2 with supports corrosion.

alheim

Thank you for your feedback.

Water is NYC is soft, as far as I know. I'd like to test further.

I am comfortable with my piping system and can fill, drain, & bleed the system no problem. But, regarding adding a flushing agent or hydroponic conditioner - how to add? I have bibbs to drain, but all water comes from the make up - no port to add chemicals.

I can otherwise flush using the make up as needed, in fact I could even flush each rad individually since I have a manifold w/ home runs.

I found a post on here from 2002, in fact it may have been your post @hot rod : forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/62989/how-to-properly-flush-a-hydronic-system-mike-holzworth

Great tips but still not sure how to add any agents.

alheim

I will invest in a PH test kit.

Another good old thread with posts by "hr": forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/80769/are-chemicals-needed

Jean-David Beyer

My hot water mod-con boiler meeds to have Sentinel X-100 in it at proper concentration. So at annual maintenance time, the techie tests a sample of the boiler water. When a boost is needed, he removes the top of one of the valves (handle, stem, etc), drains some water from the boiler, and squirts the X-100 in there. Then replaces the valve and runs in some water to make up the loss. It works because I had them put in lots of ball valves in the system, so this affects only a few feet of pipe.

I wish the contractor would get the right adapter for a caulking gun gizmo. The X-100 comes in a cartridge for such a thing. If the adapter would fit the screw threads of one of the boiler drain valves, he would not need to drain any water and could do the job 10 or 15 minutes faster.

alheim

I could drain lower sections of pipe near the circs, and directly fill the copper lines. Re-close valves, add make up water, then start the circs. Bring her up to temp, bleed the rads. Basically follow directions per links above.

I didn't think that adding any chemicals directly into the pipe/loop was a good idea, but in retrospect it sounds harmless if I am diluting straight away.

hot_rod

Here is one simple method to put cleaners or conditioners into the systems.
There are a few brands available.
Rhomar is a local company and they have done extensive research and testing into multi-metal cleaning and treating. They have a full time degreed chemist on staff and will analyze water samples.

No need drain down the system to inject these 16 ounces
This kit does about 25 gallons.

I like the garden hose connection on this brand, be the connection is tight, as the cans empty in seconds once you pull the trigger.

alheim

Thank you @hot rod, very helpful.

alheim

@hot rod what is going on in your profile photo, the copper bed frame? tell me that you built a radiant bed frame.