Low water cutoff

John@Reliable_14

> this vent is hissing badly.But its not spitting <BR>
> water or steam. <BR>
That is the one I would start with. Hold a mirror or even newspaper over vents when system is making steam to check for leaks, can be hard to "see". Think about a pot of water on the stove set to boil, without a lid water is gone quick, add a lid and will last a long time. Your boiler is the pot & stove, the vents are the lids. It really doesn't take much as in bad vents to cause water to vanish. Hope this helps John@Reliable

alex_11

Low water cutoff

To all the experts a very basic question.

This is an old oil boiler that was running fine until a few days ago.

Its in my basement and we just finished the basement so now the boiler is in its own boiler room with plenty of vents all around its four walls for combustion air.And I am not sure if combusiton air is a problem here.

This boiler never had law water cutoff issues.

However with the current mild winter season the biler has not run all day.I am in NJ.It just use to run early morning and late in the night until the chill of yesterday.

Yesterday the bioler didnt turn on.I checked the thermostat and found that the thermostat is calling for heat however the furnace was compleletey dead.

In the morning today I observed that its not turning on because of the low water level and the low water cut off has shut the burner.

I filled in water (doesnt have automatic feeder) and the burner immediately turned on.

My question is?What is causing this low water cut off?

The only other observaiton I have is that in the last few days one of the Steam vent is hssing very loudly and constantly.However I have NOT noticed any steam or water leaking from the steam vent.

Any pointers as to where the water is escaping from the boiler?And what to look for?How bad is this condition and is this a precursor for something bad about to happen?

PLEASE help,Ken Steamhead..replies awaited?
Thank you very much.

Big Ed

Bad Vent

If you have to add water in the heating season only you have a steam leak..Jack up the thermostats and lisen for the leaks.They will sing out as you discovered.

Vent go bads , normal. .Penny wise ,penny foolish when it comes to steam vents...

Low water cut off works ,which is good to know and check . would be a bad thing if it failed...


Loosing water take care of leaks ,letting go costs you to burn extra fuel, system will collect extra solids and the constant fresh water will take its toll on your system...

alex_11

What will be the visible signs.
As I mentioned this vent is hissing badly.But its not spitting water or steam.
Where else shall I look for leaks.
Please advise.
Thank you.

Dale

water loss

> What will be the visible signs. As I mentioned

> this vent is hissing badly.But its not spitting

> water or steam. Where else shall I look for

> leaks. Please advise. Thank you.



Kind of like in "Casablanca" you first round up all the usual suspects. Water loss,if no running/leaking water is seen, is usually up the chimney as steam, from a crack at the normal water line. The water in the boiler goes out as steam to the flue passages and then up with the normal flue products. With this crack on a cold day the "smoke" from the boiler is really white in color. Next, do you have any buried returns? If so they usually leak. If you heat up the boiler, to make the crack as open as possible, and over fill it (with the burner off) a crack will usually have water dripping down the inside of boiler either onto the floor, gas or inside of the combustion chamber,oil. If so you need about $5 grand.

jim_110

leak

FSK you state the basement is new. Buried wet returns usually track the along the walls. Did anyone shoot nails in the floor to frame the walls?Your losing water either from a return or the boilers cracked.Another test to check for a crack is to fill a "COLD" boiler to the top and see if any water leaks to the floor. If not you have to check your returns.Good Luck

Unknown

I added water,

to a "hot-block" in a 1950 Hudson car once,,,definately cracked the engine, be careful here! PS- The car was not worth 5 Grand then!

Dave