Kettling noises from cast iron water boilers

dconnors

This could be a flow issue or impingement coupled with flow issues. When is it happening? Is it at initial start up or is it occuring at shutdown?

John Roberts

Kettling noises from cast iron hot water boilers

It has been explained in several ways, none of which make a tremendous amount of sense. Why do we occasionally get these "boiling" noises when there is no trapped air within the boiler or the near boiler piping?

Ted_4

Noise

I'm assuming you are talking about a boiler used in a hot water (not steam) heating system. The noise you are hearing is actually boiling water. Small steam bubbles form near heated areas of the heat exchanger and quickly collapse as they move away into the cooler water toward the outside of the boiler sections. You will hear (and see) a similar phenomenon as you heat a pan of water to boiling on your stove. This may mean your boiler's high limit is set too high, or it may be due to the design of the boiler heat exchanger. Try lowering the high limit setting by 10 to 20 degrees, and see if the noise diminishes.

John Roberts

KETTLING

It occurs near shutdown and briefly thereafter, I have experienced it before with a Peerless and traced it to the chamber blanket being torn with the help of an old-timer who explained it as the uneven heating of the sections which were covered vs. the ones uncovered

John Roberts

The boiler limit has been decreased to near 170 degrees, pressure on the vessel is at 18 psi.

John Roberts

An explaination offered to me is one similar to the uneven heating of boiler sections due to the torn chamber blanket, this boiler is fed with well-water, probably high in mineral and "hardness" content. I was told that mineral deposits will collect on the warmest portion of the boiler sections for a period of time and actually cause the uneven expansion and contraction of the individual sections over time, causing the same noises.

Dick Charland

Ssounds like mineral build up inside boiler, try adding some boiler treatment, Hercules has worked in several cases.

gerry gill

I go along with Mr. Charland

try this stuff, works for me. http://www.rydlyme.com/

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Dann Crist_3

In our area, Montana we have experianced this in a number of boilers produced by American Standard shortly before they got out of the boiler manufacturing business. The problem didn't show up for several years depending on ???
You can lessen the effects of the small amounts of water flashing to steam by increasing the pressure on the system.(at 170 degrees the pressure should be well over 18 psi anyway)The problem gets worse over time and gets noisey to the point that it is quite annoying although not dangerous.
replacing the boiler is the usual result. I have tried boiler treatments etc without much success. Hard water should not be much of an issue unless there is an inordinate ammount of water being continually added. On a system that is properly sealed, there should be just one "dose" of hard water minerals. We have changed several of these problem boilers over the years and when someone calls with the problem, I can usually tell them the approximate age of the boiler and that it is American Standard and the Jacket is light tan or brown and the diverter is black. We feel that a poor casting process was to blame, causing hot spots inside the casting near the bottom. A higher head pump also does not seem to change things much.

Ed_26

kettling noise

Possibly overfired? Or with oil, wrong nozzle pattern or too large (overfired) fuel pressure too high?
Also flow problem.

Unknown

I can hear it on my own Peerless

At shutdown sort of like a sizzling noise that persists for a few seconds . Sounds like it's closer to the top of the boiler , not where the blanket sits . All else is fine with the 7 year old WBV3 . Every once in a while we'll hear it on a new Peerless install .

sootmonkey

yep

had a job earlier this week. i was sent to pull the coil out, isolate the boiler, install coil plate only, pour two cans of hurclues bioler cleaner into system, fill system with h2o, boil system, drain and refill, boil again, drain and refil, run system. coil was not needed. did this 7/5/05 has worked so far. system was HUGELY "tea kettling"

Boilerpro_3

Recently had An A/S that vintage

that was so loud they could here it upstairs when it was firing. I flushed the system with clean water and then cleaned it with Rhomar Hydrosolve. After leaving it in for about 4 to 5 weeks during early spring weather I returned and flushed it out and refilled. The boiler is completely silent in operation now. I'd certainly give this a try before replacing an A/S boiler. I find very few of these that ever fail, most just get replaced due to old age, and even the early 60's models (gas atmospheric) push 80% efficiency... even with worn out heat exchangers (my own is an example).

Boilerpro

hr

I'd agree with mineral build up

and I too have used Hercules Sizzle to cook 'em out. it's a quick, easy, and fairly inexpensive thing to try first.

hot rod

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