Steam treatment or just water

Bob W._3

I would be careful about what you put in your Weil, since it has the elastomeric seals. There is a recent post here about leaking W-M's, maybe due to seals going bad.

FWIW, the water in my old W-M isn't the best. I get a lot of mud every time I blow down the LWCO. Its a 95+ year old system. As long as the water doesn't surge or dance in the glass I don't worry about it.

As for steam in general, you might end up like me, telling everyone you meet about your system, not noticing when their eyes start to glaze over, etc. :)

Steve Garson_2

Steam treatment or just water

I'm putting a lot of time into repeatedly skimming my new boiler to eliminate what appears to be wet steam. A recent poster on this site suggested using a boiler cleaner. The Weil McLain manual suggests water.

The new boiler was cleaned with TSP and skimmed by the contractor this summer. I have skimmed and drained several times, once with TSP for 2 hours. Now I am skimming two or three gallons every Saturday and Sunday.

My boiler has drain valves at the end of the wet return and the bottom of the boiler. Should I be draining these as well?

Should I just keep doing what I am doing for another few weekends, or should I do something differently? It doesn't seem like I should need to keep doing this for so long. Its a WM SGO-4. Works fine except for hissing on a few radiators. I just want the system to be quiet like it was with the old boiler. All vents are Gortons and the mains have Gortons as well.

Steve

don_52

At wits end?

Steve, you poor guy, here let's review, okay?

Steve asks;

My boiler has drain valves at the end of the wet return and the bottom of the boiler. Should I be draining these as well?

Keith replied;

Have you dumped the entire system and started from scratch several times?

Preventing sediment from entering the boiler thru the wet returns is key. It's a lot easier to get it out of the pipe than out of the the boiler.

Alot depends on the individual system and how well it's been maintained along the way. If you are performing triage on a system that nobody has touched in 30 years it's going to take a while.

Steve responded;

Yeah, nobody did anything on the system for probably 50 years. New boiler installed this summer.

Before installation, I cleaned the wet return with high pressure water and flushed it out completely.

db wrote previously;

As the season progresses the system will literally "steam clean itself.

Just keep an eye on it and do what your doing for awhile and you'll get to the point where it only need be done once a week or so.

Okay Steve, what we have is a system that was neglected to
a system that's being maintained, so why the big suprise?

Such was my own experience, did the same things you did, even moved rads / valves and flushed.

Geuss what? right, still got crud, same situation, neglected
to maintained, took a little better than half the season to get to the point of "normal".

This year, after cleaning the "entire system" , I have only
given it a condesate dump, quick skim, and a "real" bottom
blow down and a "real" surface blowoff, I can do this because that's the way it was installed, per my request.

Your boiler is clean, the schmoozt you a seeing is returning from the system due to 50 years of neglect.

I know this is a royal pain, there's no way to hurry this
process, it'll "get clean when it does", have patience, faith and a couple of adult beverages and you'll be fine.

Hang in there and happy steaming, db

Steve Garson_2

DB:

Thanks for the insight. I'm OK doing it as long as I know that it's the right thing to do. Has become sort of a hobby. I've even installed an time interval meter attached to the burner relay to keep a log of burner run time versus degree days/wind/sun. I tell my kids that this is my real world science experiment. Everyone in my neighborhood has the exact same steam systems with 70 year old boilers. After this season, I'll have accurate data to tell them exactly how much I saved on oil consumption.

So it sounds like boiler treatment is not the way to go. Just keep skimming, right?

John Van Hoesen

I feel your pain...

Hi Steve -

I too have joined the latest crazy of boiler skimming for fun! I too spend my weekends cleaning sediment and rust out of my boiler... I too 5 gallon buckets up the stairs and I too want to shoot the previous homeowner.

Just wanted you to know there are others out there fighting the good fight too.

cheers
J~

gerry gill

how do you know

that your getting wet steam?

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Steve Garson_2

Top of watch glass always get water droplets coming down. My radiators hiss when the boiler comes up to steam, even with good insulation and Gorton vents.

gerry gill

does the boiler

behave itself after you skim it?

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Sal Brunetto

Weil-McLain

Wet steam can be caused by many factors.

We recommend not putting any chemicals in your boiler system.

As for skimming, make sure you are not producing steam. Modulate the firing of the boiler such that the water is kept around 180F or so. While boiler is warm but not HOT, drain through the drain valve. Remove skim piping, close drain and fill. Steam for 15 minutes check operation of traps and vents.

Sal Brunetto
Weil-McLain
631-672-4223

Steve Garson_2

Sal:

When you say drain, do you mean I should drain the boiler from the bottom drain each time after skimming, or do you mean drain through the skim tapping. I'm doing the skimming at 180* using the hi-limit control for the water loop.

Sal Brunetto

re:

drain thru the drain valve after your skimming session

Steve Garson_2

Thanks for clarifying that.

Sal Brunetto

You might want to test some of the water you're skimming off by boiling it on the stove. That way, you can check for foaming or oil residue.

Just don't let your significant other catch you using the good pan for boiling boiler water. lol

Steve Garson_2

So I skimmed my boiler for 90 minutes today. Ran the water very slowly continuously while draining from the skim tap. All the while, the boiler was at 180*. Then I drained the boiler from the valve at the drain tap. Also drained the wet return (clear).

Took some water from the skimming and boiled on the stove. Could not really see any oily residue. The water was a very slight tan color. When boiling. it really didn't foam, but how much foam are we talking about to know the boiler needs more cleaning? These are subtleties that this homeowner needs some help with. To nice a day to be skimming my boiler.