When is the steam boiler clean?

Steve Garson_2

I just skimmed another two gallons off my boiler. I am doing this very gradually, taking around ten minutes to fill two gallons.

Am I going too slow and wasting my time?

Since I still have wet steam, does it make sense for me to take a couple gallons a week like this, or should I be skimming for an hour at one time? I'm amazed at how long this is taking.

Steve Garson

When is the steam boiler clean?

I've skimmed and reskimmed my boiler. My radiators still hiss when the boiler reaches close to cut-off pressure after a cold start. They then breath in after cooling.

Is the ultimate test simply boiling some skimmed water on the stove and seeing if it foams?

I hate to keep re-skimming if it won't make any difference. Are a few droplets at the top of the watch glass normal, or should it be 100% dry and water free if the boiler is clean?

don_52

My own experience....

Steve,

with a new steam install late last summer.

The prior owner's "never" did any remedial maintenance
on the boiler, no fault, they just did'nt know how.

Based on that I'll relate some of my own experiences.

Is this during normal operation/steaming or are you
kicking up the temp to get to full load?
If so, mine hiss very slightly at or near full load
358' scalding hot all the way across. ( 2 ounces )
Really not a concern ( for here ) the vents will do
that "some" at or near full load.
Think about it for a minute "what would I do if I
were a vent on a steam radiator under those conditions?

As far as the "breathing in" only one rad does that,
it's cooling faster than the mains, hence sucking.

From what I understand it is the way to test for oils.

What you are most likely seeing is the return of solids
and rust to the system.
Solids and rust on the top of the water pile make it hard
for the steam to float off, it has to fight through that
stuff, hence the "carry over" into the sight glass.

That's normal, sort of, all that stuff is crud from the
pipes and rads, breaking a couple of rads at the end of
main run up the garden hose and flush them out.
That's what I did, still got crud had to blow down, quick
skim and do a "surface blow off" ( I can do that ) more
than what may be considered normal.

Think about that for a moment as well, here I went from
a system that was never taken care of to "taking care of
it. Now all that crud is coming back as the system cleans
itself.

thfurnitureguy_4

Steve, I think there is perfect and there is good enough for this year. I have aquestion on one aspect of your radiators. "Breathing in when cooling" Do you have Gorton main vents? and are they located close to the hot main pipe. I read a post that said Gortons tend to stay closed if they are in a hot environment. Im sure they need to be quite hot but are your mains insulated just below the main vents? I think what is happening is that the radiators are constantly loosing heat to the room by design. So as soon as the boiler cycles off they start to suck. The mains should releave this vacume very quickly, but not if they remain closed. I have not tried this yet but I plan to insulate the mains and a short leg of the return to help isolate the main vents from any heat. The hope is to have the mains open before the radiators. I have also read about a vacume breaker but I don't know if they will work in this application.

don_52

Rust / Crud

Steve,

The rest of what you are seeing is rust / crud returning
to the boiler from the piping system, it will even work
it's way back up through the hartford.

This is from what I understand to be fairly typical when
a new steamer is installed, this is my own experience as
well.

I flushed the piping out down the drain yet still got
plenty of "schmootz" back.

Soooo. I just kept myself in "maintenace mode", kept watching, bottom blowdown, mini / quick-skim and surface
blow-off at a "minimum" every few days.

The droplets / film you see are referred to as "carry over",
the steam must work harder to break the "surface tension"
formed by solids in solution.

Doing that drives the solids ( not visible ) off the top
of the water pile into the system, most will fall out in
the header and return through the equalizer, hence the sticky water droplet in the sight glass.

A quick-skim or surface blow-off will help remove those.

Heavier particulate will settle to the bottom, bottom blow-
down will help remove that.

Alternatively, if there is an isolation valve and a drain
below in the wet return you may just dump the bottom end
every week or so.

Mind now, do this only "as needed" to minimize the amount
of fresh water to the system.

As the season progresses the system will literally "steam
clean itself, you'll know.

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.

Regards, db

Steve Garson_2

I can appreciate that I might be skimming for a few more weeks, but how do I determine that I no longer need to?

Your comment that I'll get to the point of only doing it once a week seems extreme. I am hoping to not have to do it at all at some point in the near future.

don_52

Well...

Steve,

Sorry to throw out that blanket statement "it depends", yet
I can't, reson being I can't see your boiler or watch it
operate from here.

The only thing I can "suggest" is to watch for excessive
bouce in the gauge glass once fairly well into the steaming
cycle.

Watch for droplets and film at the top of the gauge glass.

Watch for any pressure build up on your gauge ( if'n it is
fine enough to read ounces )

Consider this also, a steam system is constantly exposed
to oxygen and rust never sleeps.

Keith_8

treatment

Have you added any steam boiler system cleaner to help clean up the entire system?

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.

Keith

Keith_8

treatment

Have you added any steam boiler system cleaner to help clean up the entire system?

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.

Keith

Steve Garson_2

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.

Should I use a water treatments? The Weil Mclane instructions suggest that you shouldn't use treatments.