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you can solder up the hole and drill it to whatever size you want. that is what they do with gas orifices if they need to resize them smaller.

How often and how much water do you have to add?

If your chasing leaks by adding water that is bad for the boiler.

If not I would pick a warm day and drain and flush and drain and flush until it cleans up. Then refill and bring it to a boil.

You can get PH strips at a drug store I think or on line.

Others will comment on additive.

Being you have just started on taking care of the system here s a few things i would check aside from main and radiator vents .

What is the condition of the boilers heat exchanger . Is there any record of when the last time the flue passage clean out plates have been removed and the section brushed clean and the burner removed and combustion chamber been vacuumed out ? Has anyone performed a combustion testing on the burner and made sure that it some where within the proper combustion numbers? Checked pump pressure and air diffuser on the burner aside from burners blower wheel ? What is the stack temperature high stack temps waste fuel and can be caused by dirty fuel passages .improper burner setting ,lack of barometric draft which increases flue temperatures and retards the heat exchanger from absorbing heat and sends it up the stack .When i have been faced with unknown service history of older boilers i usually like to see how much mud has build up in the boilers water side . Many see zero merit in doing so but over the years a simple draining and wanding of the water side of the boiler usually yield good result being steam boiler like creating steam from water not mud which tends to really build up in the water side push nipples . Muddy water requires more btus to boiler the water out of the mud . Some of my best result on older system performance wise has been flushing and wanding the bottom of the boiler . the second biggest improvement for performance is insulation of steam mains and then the one most dislike the most up dating and replacing main and radiator vents . If radiator vents are spitting there either done and need to be replaced or you have issue w the quality of steam the boiler is producing which id usually related to mis piped boiler.dirty boiler.wrong water level being maintained in the boiler to high or to low a water level and or mud build up in the boiler . A flushing of wet return is usually in order every 100 years or so also lol

I would thing that a building that size would use about that per day from dealing w homes about that size that where firing bout 18 gph and they went through a lot of oil alot . As my dad used to say big building big bills . As for thermostats possibly try using a t stat that allows you to use a remote wireless sensor and or possibly a temperature averaging style thermostat they are also available using wireless sensors great for older homes and building no wires to be ranand the stat can be powered and mounted in the mechanical room and most allow internet connections for remote monitoring.

If you really want to get the boilers firing rate correct do a edr on the existing connective load and go from there in sizing the correct nozzle for the boiler . with a hi fire low fire burner you should be able to get it within the proper firing rate as long as its not grossly underfired .

a small note and a personal peev if the main and radiator vents are over 10 years old just replace them they have earned a retirement they do alot of work and nobody ever realizes it so they usually earned a retirement .

peace and good luck clammy

Hi everyone, we just finished moving in to our 1915 house and it looks like it has a two pipe steam system, with a vaporstat on a Weil McLain coal boiler converted to natural gas.

We currently have about 7 out of 18 radiators heating up. I’ve read 90% of “We Got Steam Heat” so far and I’m excited to learn more about this system and get it working well again!

Right now my thoughts on diagnosis are that there is either lots of air in the system OR I have a LOT of failed steam traps at each radiator. I’ve done some cursory searching and cannot find any main vents on the system (could they be higher up like in the attic?), unless they are those paint covered monstrosities that seem to be the hangers holding up one of the pipes attached to the wall.

I’d love some help learning more about the system and how to care for it, and if anyone has any recommendations for maintenance providers in Syracuse, NY, I’m all ears. I’ve taken a bunch of pictures and can take more if needed. Thanks in advance!!

The only way to permanently remove water trapped in a supply or return is to repitch the pipe so the water can drain, either back to the main or onwards towards the return.