Where's the water going?

Zenia

Hi, no it doesnt thats why we keep filling it up? My guess is that its piped wrong or the pressure is set to high and the water is going up into the mains?

Zenia_2

Where's the water going?

Hi Everyone! First I would like to thank everyone for the interesting reading on this website, We just bought a home and recently changed the boiler. It's a one pipe steam system, the home had the original coal boiler which was converted to gas with a burner. It was original to the house [1895?]
Well my husband and I decided to change it since it was so old, and probably running at 40% AFUE if that! We had a Burnham Independence installed. The old boiler we manually add water to it once a month, now with this new boiler we are manually feeding fresh water every day? Is that normal? I think the plumber who installed the boiler, installed it incorrectly? So far my husband has changed the main vents and the raditor vents also. We hear water sloshing around in the main line which we didnt hear with the old boiler. Any ideas why we need to keep adding water constantly? The plumber that did the installation states thats normal? but I have my doubts! So I'll ask the experts! Thanks for reading this and any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

HitzKup_2

Losing Water

No! it's not normal for a properly installed steam boiler to loose water.

Question: when the boiler cycles off does the water return?

HitzKup_2

buried mains

If the water does not return to the boiler it goes out of your system either by a leak in the piping or by a melfuctioning air valve.

Do you have some buried mains? Is the header piped in copper? do the air valves spit water or steam?

Zenia_2

No copper lines, no buried lines, no leaks, some of the radiator vents hiss but I thought that was normal since my husband changed all the vents. The water in the sight glass does surge and we've cleaned it the best we can still a little dirty. After about a day of heating my husband has to refill the sight glass 3/4 ways or the low water module kicks in and shuts off the boiler.

mel rowe

Hi, just an interested homeowner here, with a bit of experience with my own system and several others I've worked on to help out some friends. Most of what I know I've learned from TLASH and the Wall. If it was an old boiler , I would suggest going outside when boiler is on and looking to see if any big clouds of white steam condensate are coming out of chimney, indicating an internal water leak. Since it is new, and you say you hear water sloshing in main, then I have other questions. Did the installer really know steam systems? How was the near boiler piping set up to assure dry steam? What are the cutout and cutin pressures set on the Pressuretrol? With all that water in the pipes, are you getting water spurting out any rad vents? I'm sure you will get input from some of the pros on this site, but this will get you started anyway.Would you be able to post some pictures of the piping?

Floyd_49

Hi,I think the problem is wrong piping , the hartsford loop , that is exactly where the problem is . I am not a licened plumber but I have a lot of experiance in this field so , from what you discribe I am 95% shure that your problem is what I stated .Ido a lot of repiping for people who hire the big guys .smile

Post some pictures .
chow

GW

water

You sure picked up some trade jargon; you sound like a heating pro yourself!

Sloshing... I bet the boiler needs to be skimmed.

How are the radiators heating up? What's the outdoor temperature been lately? Just curious about boiler "run" times; if it's cold out the boiler will run longer, if it's mild out it will conversely run in shorter cycles. Is the system working, water issue aside?

The missing water is a head scratcher.... if all the vents are good and there's no piping hiding and nothing is leaking.... and the boiler isn't losing the water up the chimney, you have an anomaly for sure.

Gary


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