What should happen in the sightglass?

John Van Hoesen

Seems like a straightforward answer if someone has looked at multiple sightglasses... :)

Thanks!
J~

John Van Hoesen

Boiler is finally \"mostly\" clean...

The water is mostly clear, still a slight orange color, but I think it's the best I'm going to do.

Having never seen another sightglass before, I'm just curious what is "supposed" to happen in there? Currently when I look at the water level it bounces up and down about 1/4" to 1/2", not much. BUT, there is clear water dribbling down from the upper valve and splashing on the meniscus. Is that normal and if not, what does it sound like?

Thanks so much in advance!
cheers
J~

Steve Garson_2

John:

I was going to ask the same question tonight! I've been skimming my new boiler every Saturday and Sunday and now I'm skimming two buckets in the morning before going to work.

The watch glass still has water droplets coming down the top on steam. Sounds like we're in the same stage of new boiler cleaning.

Should there be NO droplets when everything is clean?

Steve

Bob W._3

How are your systems performing? If the steam is dry and the rads are heating isn't that enough? My boiler glass gets kinda rusty from all the dirty water. Its an old system and its probably better to leave it alone than to introduce all that fresh make-up water. My .02.

Steve Garson_2

My system is heating fine, if my wife can live with the morning hissing of the radiator vents, which I never had before the new boiler was installed. Typically bigger issue in the morning at start-up.

Bob W._3

Suspect the hissing could be due to using larger vents, like Gorton D's I use, which vent really fast. Thats the downside to getting the system to heat quickly. The upside should be the overall efficiency and comfort. If you have the mains vented really well you could throttle the whole thing down a little by using a lot of Hoffman 1A's. I try to use the D's on the really hard to heat rads only. I don't mind the noise; it tells me the boiler is running. Regards.

P.S. I like having a lot of different vents to try. My 17 yr. old likes his room cold, so we don't vent it much. My 13 year old likes his warm, so he gets a D. We use a 1A, and adjust it for the season - open it a little when the boiler only runs a little, and close it down when the boiler runs a lot. Poor man's TRV.

John Van Hoesen

Don't know...

Hopefully someone in the "know" will show up and give us peaceof mind. Yes, the rads heat up just fine, I don't have any hammer so I don't think there's much wet steam... but I'm still confused why I have water dripping down the top valve, from what I've read, that doesn't make sense...

J~

Steve Garson_2

Steamhead - are you there?

Can a real steam pro advise us on this thread? Should we care that water droplets are dripping from the top of the watchglass? Or should we still skim? New boilers.

Thanks!

John Van Hoesen

Me too...

I'm also have the same issue and getting tired of cleaning... Hope someone can offer us some clues.

Thanks
Stan

John S.

How's your...

near-boiler piping. Is it as the manufacturer intended? A picture is worth a thousand words.

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Guy_6

Steam

I have some knowledge on steam, so I will pass along my thoughts here: A slight surging in the 1/2 to even 1 inch range is normal. Keep in mind that as you are skimming the boiler, I assume that you are adding make up water to replenish what came out. That new water has oxygen and "contaminants" like chlorine and fluoride in it. A steam boiler will operate at it's best with "stale" water.
As long as the rads are heating, let the boilers settle for a few days. I think that you will find that the last minor issues will vent away.....

Anna Conda

Your sight glass is behaving normally. Its normal for the water level to rise and fall sedately, as steam is formed and removed and water replenished. Its also normal to see a trickle of liquid water running down the glass from the steam space, as the steam hits the cooler glass and condenses a little.

If your water level is really bouncing vigorously, more than an inch total travel, that can be a trouble sign. That is a normal occurance on start-up, when the cold boiler water is heating up and starting to produce steam. At any other time during normal operation, vigorously bouncing water level may indicate problems like priming(foaming in the boiler, often caused by oil contamination), or carry-over (liquid water droplets being carried with the steam into the pipes, causes corrosion and impinging damage)

Likewise, if there is more than a trickle of condensate in the sight glass, then there may be a problem in the boiler. Atmospheric conditions do influence though, and if the air surrounding the sight glass is very cool, there will be more condensation in the glass than when the air is warmer.

Steve Garson_2

John:

All near boiler piping is per spec, with an extra 5-inches of height from the boiler.

John S.

Guy has a good point...

posted below. All that fresh makeup water is not good for the boiler. If it's heating OK, I would leave it alone.

...as far as the droplets... if you're near boiler piping is correct and you've skimmed that much, the only thing I can think of left to check would be the pH of the water. You might read your boiler manufacturer's literature to get the specs but I believe you want a pH of around 7-8.

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