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The steam will rise to the top. it will fill diagonally across from the inlet end to the opposite end if the tops of the sections are connected, if the sections are only connected at the bottom it will fill one section at a time starting at the inlet side, once a section is full it will spill out in to the next section.

I looks like they're there to get rid of condensate that gets trapped when the zone valves close. Without them the steam would hammer that water every time the valves opened on a call.

the steam piping and return look pretty ok. Skimming is not draining and yes your gauge glass shows signs of oil requiring skimming.

The makeup water piping is a horror show but that won’t affect your boiler’s performance

Did you start out with the statement that your boiler needs water weekly. I would think that your boiler is "losing water abnormally".

And your contract says "We hereby state that the work we have proposed will correct the problems associated with the improperly piped boiler and that all of the radiators will heat thoroughly and evenly, the boiler not lose water abnormally, the boiler water will stop surging and the boiler will stop short cycling. In the event that the work we complete does not improve the situation then all monies paid for our work shall be refunded in full."

Based on that line in the contract, I think you need to apply for the "refund in full" in writing. See how fast they start looking for that leak.

Start keeping a written log of how much water you are adding and how often.

In order to know how much water you are adding, you can mark the water line with tape on the gauge glass. Then mark the spot where the LWCO stops the burner by removing that much water into a bucket. From the bucket, measure how many quarts or gallons that much water is on the gauge glass. (For example 1.5" on gauge glass = 2.7 gallons or something like that)

Now every time you need to add water you know how many gallons you are adding and you can write it down with the date and keep a record of it.  

That info will hold up in court if that boiler is still losing water in 3 years when it gets to court.

But it won't get that far. I had the same thing happen on a church that used 999 gallons of water in the first 6 weeks of operation. I found a buried wet return in a crawlspace that was rotted away. All the return condensate from that section of the building was draining into the crawl space under the sand. The church agreed to pay extra for that pipe repair. And that repair solved the boiler water loss problem.

Valves are easy

If valve is leaking at the valve stem :

First, try tightening the top (packing) nut 1/4 turn. That's usually enough.

If it's still leaking, turn boiler off, remove the packing nut and use a pick , like a nut pick or dentist's pick to remove the old packing; get some new thin valve packing at the hardware store and wrap around the valve stem while stuffing it gently onto the gap where the old packing was. when you get to 1/16 or so over the top replace the packing nut and SLIGHTLY tighten. If you can't turn the handle you tightened it too much. If it's still leaking, tighten a little more.

Vents unscrew. Again Boiler off, unscrew old vent, put some teflon thread tape on new vent(be careful not to occlude the port) and screw in. Vent should be vertical- only hand tighten these.

Maid -o-mist and Gorton are decent rad vents. Get them at Supplyhouse.com- NOT your local Home Depot.

The red circle is your main vent

This should be removed and the pipe replaced with a 3/4 street elbow to at least an 8" nipple. Put a Gorton #1 main vent on the end. Your installer should do that for a reasonable fee.

If they excluded it in their quote, then it was fair.