Leaking steam boiler or condensation on it that drips water?

Brad White_2

have a leak at or above the waterline.

Try filling the boiler to a point into the steam chest and see what if anything comes running down.

Also see if there is white smoke (steam) coming out of your chimney. The Pope is still new on the job so that is not an indicator of anything else...

My $0.02

Brad

Nicholas

Is it a leaking steam boiler or condensation dripping water?


I have a Crown Steam boiler, standing pilot, in a 4-story rowhouse. Every few days I keep finding the pilot is out and there is water dripping from the inside of the boiler onto the floor. It is a steady drip, but stops as soon as I re-light the pilot. There is no leaking in between the boiler fully firing up. I had never noticed a leak like this in the 6 or so years since installation, but looking inside I do see rust in places up there, and on the boiler's own metal "floor," of course. The other day I changed the thermocouple to see if that was the source of the pilot problem, but after a few more days the same thing again. What I can't figure out is:
1. Do I have leaking boiler which could be putting out the pilot by dripping water right onto it, or,
2. do I have an occassional down-draft (despite a flue cap and functioning vent-damper)which is blowing the pilot out? Could it be that this steady drip of water is caused by cold air condensing on the still-hot boiler once the pilot is out from a draft? I haven't watched the drip for as long as it would take to see the boiler completely cool off and watch to see if the leaking stopped because I need to get the boiler going again.
Two weeks ago I had a very clogged water level tube cleaned out, did the blow down, and auto water cut-off and auto water feed are functioning properly. If there is a leak in the boiler itself, would it stop altogether once it is all fired up again? I'd expect there would still be some kind of leak, which, even if it wasn't visible, would be causing the auto water feed to work overtime, but it doesn't seem to be.
Could I just have another defective thermocouple? Or just a pesky downdraft which I could address with maybe a different kind of flue cap? Just how much condensation could a still-hot but cooling off boiler produce? I'd be really grateful for any thoughts on this!