Drain steam boiler or not

V8toilet

This is my second year owning a house with a steam heating system. I've read most of Dan’s books (awesome information) and from what I've learned from them made the necessary upgrades to the system like end of main vents and correct near boiler piping with new boiler.

I know it's late in the season for me to ask this but since I have a new boiler I was wondering if it's better to drain the boiler for the summer season or to just leave the water inside the boiler until the next heating season. I have no information that suggests one way is better than the other.

What’s worse; the corroding inside the boiler I get while the water just sits there for six months or the oxygen in the new water when I fill it again in the next heating season? Also what about the boiler section seals? Do they need to stay wet all the time so they don’t dry out? I have a Weil McLain boiler with the rubber boiler section seals.

gerry gill

I would suggest

that you just leave it be, in standby, ready to turn on with the first chilly night all by itself.

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Jamie Hall

I leave my boilers

at level all the time. I have no first-hand info, but I have a gut feeling that the corrosion in the wet returns, if allowed to sit empty but damp (and they would be) would be terrific and they would rust out in just a few years. And I just don't want to go there...

V8toilet

I have no wet returns. This system is a one pipe counter flow steam system and it works awesome thanks to the information I learned from Dan’s books. I was wondering if draining the boiler at the end of the season was better for the new boiler than just leaving the water in it over the summer just sitting there. I think I might just contact Weil McLain to find out for sure.