Best Of

I know exactly what you are talking about. I asked the Pro from the youtube channel "Silent Steam Team" my issue. He told me to contact "The Steam Whisperer."
I looked him up and he is the best in Chicago.
Going to call them. He comes out and tells me tells me I need a Boiler, I trust him.
Like you said…. To many Yahoos out there saying they know all about Steam Heat and know nothing.

Check that both valves on top and bottom of the gauge glass are fully open (turned counter-clockwise). There should be some slight water movement in the glass when the burner is firing.

The normal water level on the sight glass should be 1/2 to 2/3 full.

I have noticed that the water level in my Burnham boiler at home has been at about one inch above the bottom of the glass for about a week now. I called my service guy and he said it is fine and that there are safety features to keep the boiler from running dry. MY question…assuming that the boiler is healthy and everything works as it should, is a clog in the glass gauge that keeps me from seeing how high or low the water actually is a concern? Does that gauge affect the operation of the rest of the boiler if all the other parts are functioning fine?

Furthermore, the wet (low) return doesn't need any pitch — so if you could get a little pitch on the flat section by lowering that you'd be fine.

Insulation won't make much difference in how much fuel you use anyway — the main benefit is reducing wet steam and getting the steam to your radiators faster and more evenly. Any heat lost into the basement keeps the first floor warmer, unless your basement is very draughty.

@alexh Do you get banging associated with the main with the flat spot? Water coming off the radiator connected near the flat spot? No heat off radiators on that main?

If not, it's not a problem.

Header pitch is something I just laugh at. For the average residential boiler with a 2' header no pitch is required. In fact

I did commercial boilers with 4"-8" pipe and I never saw a pitched header even on huge jobs.

If you tell a pipefitter to pitch a header they will just laugh. Not needed.

"There's a consistent mismatch between the thermostat set temp and temp it's reading."

Need clarity on this. Are you saying it is set for one thing, reading something different, and not calling for the boiler to run? Or, is it that same case and it is calling for the boiler to run? Those are very different scenarios.

If you are having to drain water, that isn't a slow return, it's new water being added incorrectly. Leaking valve, bad auto feeder, failed internal coil for domestic hot water, several possibilities. If you also have a slow return, that can be clogged wet returns, those tend to corrode the most of anything in a steam system.