Steam Heat Boiler Question

Tom from Mass.

Hello, How often should a residential steam heat boiler need water added to it? Is every couple of days too often? And if so, what would be causing the problem? A little background info: The system is at my daughter's house, so I can't tell you the brand of boiler, etc, but the system is heating a small cape style house, one zone,8 radiators, with a single pipe system with gravity return. There are no obvious leaks anywhere. The system has a device mounted on the side with a knob that we turn to drain down the boiler once a week until the water runs clear, then we slowly add water to bring the level back up to half way up the sight glass. Thanks for any insight...good or bad. Tom.

Al Letellier_9

steam boiler needs water

Yes, every couple of days is too much to be adding water. A steam system, when everything is running right, shouldn't use any water in a heating season. Start with the vents. It's the first place you lose steam and water content, unless you have a leak. When you blow down the low water cut off, you should do it while the boiler is running and make sure the burner shuts off when you do it. You should be making steam as well to help clean out the device, and I personally think that once a week is too much for a system that is clean and well maintained. Every time you add water you add oxygen to the system and the corrosion cycle starts all over again. I use electronic LWCO's to eliminate this problem. Good luck.

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Al Letellier_9

steam boiler needs water

Yes, every couple of days is too much to be adding water. A steam system, when everything is running right, shouldn't use any water in a heating season. Start with the vents. It's the first place you lose steam and water content, unless you have a leak. When you blow down the low water cut off, you should do it while the boiler is running and make sure the burner shuts off when you do it. You should be making steam as well to help clean out the device, and I personally think that once a week is too much for a system that is clean and well maintained. Every time you add water you add oxygen to the system and the corrosion cycle starts all over again. I use electronic LWCO's to eliminate this problem. Good luck.

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Steamhead (in transit)

Speaking of vents

have you checked the main vents, located at or near the ends of the steam mains?

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Tom from Mass.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check out the main vent. I have on one occasion seen the vent at the end of the line venting a large amount of steam. Being a novice with steam heat I just figured this must be normal. Would you recommend any of the books for sale on this site? Which one would be best to help the homeowner better understand and troubleshoot his steam system? Thanks again.
Tom.

Steamhead (in transit)

I think you've found one of your leaks

measure the length and diameter of your steam mains and we can tell you what to replace/upgrade the main vents with.

For a start, get "We Got Steam Heat" which is available in the Online Store of this site.

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Tom from Mass.

A few more questions on leaking steam system.

Hello again, it has been a couple of weeks since my original post. The situation is still the same...need to frequently add water to the steam boiler. In the meantime I bought the "We got steam heat" book and possibly now have a little better understanding. Questions:

1) What would be good replacements for my main vents? the system is a one pipe system using 2"? (2-3/8" OD)iron pipe. There are 2 main pipes.One is 38 feet long and the other is 34 feet long. The pipe up from the boiler is 4 feet long with an "Everhot #770 Non-surge tank" in the line.

2) Can I get a recommendation on a qualified steam heat person in the Southbridge Mass. area? (south of Worcester).

A little background on the rest of my system: The boiler is a Utica Model# SF-3100 ST Rev 2...We have been checking and have not seen any steam exiting the chimney.

3) How much water does this boiler actually hold when properly filled?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
Sincerely, Tom from Mass.

tim smith

Regarding losing water

Look around your boiler & basement. Do any of the return pipes drop under concrete slab and then pop up near boiler. If so, I would start looking into possible underground leak. We have had to repipe quite a few underground return systems for early 1900s houses where the old wet returns gave it up. Just a thought, Tim

Brad White

Something else to check

My hope is that this is not the case, but might there be a leak above the boiler waterline?

If you flood the boiler to the outlet nipple (not too far up the system), does water cascade down to the combustion chamber? When firing, does there seem to be larger amounts of steam coming out of the chimney? (Burning gas makes this a little hard to tell if it is a marginal leak, the visible flue gas being predominantly water vapor.)

Hoping this is not the case but rather you check it now than in January.