Steam boiler losing water

Edward A. (Ed) Carey_3

Curt,

It sounds like you have a partially, (not fully) blocked return pipe to the boiler.


Ed Carey

Curtis H.

After replacing a defective room thermostat on a customers steam system I have discovered the following.
(1)The homeowner is getting heat to radiaters that were not hot before. Which is a good thing.
(2) The boiler now trips the low water cut out. Once the boiler shuts down the condensate does return.

They did not have this problem before the stat was replaced. The defective stat short cycled the boiler, so it probably did not have a long enough cycle to boil all the water out of the boiler. The boiler was very dirty. We are in the process of cleaning it now.
Is there something else I should be looking at?

nicholas bonham-carter

where's the water?

can you overfill the boiler [when cold] and wet returns to detect a leak? even before you spend time cleaning the system you need to find out where the water has gone-is there excessive steam coming out of the flue when firing?
othrwise look for a sagging main or return; or even a bad main vent which may be hiding the returning condesate--
now with my good glasses on i see that the water DOES return so do the usual skimming [i used washing soda] and check for any slow draining returns especially horizontal pipes close to the waterline which can hold a lot of water as the level rises in them during steaming. plugged vents could also prevent speedy draining.good luck ---nbc

Derheatmeister

Is the stat adjustable on the Anticipator (heat cycle rate)?

Derheatmeister

Is the stat adjustable on the Anticipator (heat cycle rate)?

Curtis H.

The new stat is a RobertShaw 9400. So no it doesn't have an adjustable anticipator.

Curtis H.

How do I go about cleaning it with out busting the piping open?

paul_92

what is the pressure set at the p-trol??

Curtis H.

The cut in is set at 1. I do not know what the differential is set for.