Boiler feed water

R.S. West

I have a 265,000 btu burmhan boiler with #67 Mcdonnal Miller float feedwater control. Steam system with gravity feed condensate return. I believe i have a condensate return problem possible broken pipe under slab. The past 72 hrs this boiler has pulled in apox 160 gallons of city water. Installed meter on city feed supply to confirm. Can anyone tell me what a steam boiler might use in makeup water in a day?? 1 gal 5 gal or none at all??

Thanks

BAB

Boiler Owner

I am not a heating pro. I do not have the correct answer. I do own & I do operate a Smith steam boiler about the same BTU rating as yours. I run it on a vacuum return system but can, & have, run it as condensate return only. Every now & then when, while juggling or fine tuning or just screwing things up, things do get out of balance. Fresh boiler water makeup is then required. Maybe 10 gallons, maybe sometimes 20-30 gallons. If we screw up bad maybe 40-50 gallons. But if you are using 50 gallons a day, consistantly, I would suggest you got a serious problem. The boiler, radiators, piping, etc, are a closed loop system. When things are humming & balanced the water makeup should be nel to negligable. I would suggest a quick & cheap & temporary piping bypass aroung your buried slab condensate return piping & watch the water loss for 3-4 days. I wish to remind you that I am not a heating pro & I do not have the correct answer, ... but the guys on this site have helped me a lot. Bromley

Boiling Point

Boiler Feed water

> I have a 265,000 btu burmhan boiler with #67

> Mcdonnal Miller float feedwater control. Steam

> system with gravity feed condensate return. I

> believe i have a condensate return problem

> possible broken pipe under slab. The past 72 hrs

> this boiler has pulled in apox 160 gallons of

> city water. Installed meter on city feed supply

> to confirm. Can anyone tell me what a steam

> boiler might use in makeup water in a day?? 1 gal

> 5 gal or none at all??

>

> Thanks

Boiling Point

Boiler Feedwater

Excessive boiler feed water, the number 1 killer of steam boilers. Sounds to me that you have a leaking underground condensate return. I guess there is an automatic feeder on the job, otherwise you are making a lot of trips to the cellar. There is no official gals/day make up. However, over the years I have spent dealing with premature deaths of steam boilers, I have found that if you take 1/2 the water capacity of the boiler (i.e. the capacity of the boiler at the normal water line is 20 gals then 10 gals/month is the uasage). The life of the boiler will be prolonged.
Boiler manufacturers will not put a gals/day useage in any literature because of varying reasons including water quality and system defects (outside the boiler room).

Al Corelli_2

Buried return lines

Buried return lines should always be assumed to be leaking.

If they aren't today, they probably soon will be leaking.

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