How to temporarily disable the fresh water feeder?

sreja

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have to wire in a small electrical switch for the fresh water feeder so i could turn it off an on at will, and i guess that is what i will do if shutting the water flow valve is harmful to the device.

See i want to be able to turn it off and on while i experiment and learn about it.

But before i go to all the trouble of wiring in an electrical switch i'd like to hear some additional opinions about whether just turning off the valve that is between the fresh water feeder outlet and the boiler wouldn't be just as good a solution without causing any harm to the system.

I guess this comes down to what that fresh water feeder actually does (see picture):

Does it just open a valve, in which case there would surely be no harm in closing the subsequent valve leading into the boiler.

OR does it actively PUMP water through the pipe -- in which case closing the downstream valve would be harmful.

Thoughts?

sreja

How to temporarily disable the fresh water feeder?

Here's a quick question:
I've posted before about how our condensate-fed boiler is constantly bringing in new fresh water. I want to try turning off the automatic fresh water feeder for a while and watching the behavior of the system.

can i just close off the valve that is between the automatic fresh water valve and the boiler? Or will that cause trouble with the fresh water trying to "pump" (?) water into a closed pipe? (ie im not sure how the fresh water feeder works -- whether it is just opening a valve automatically or trying to pump water). I think it's ok as i'm guessing its just an automatic valve opening but i want to make sure before i break something.

Picture of fresh water feeder and valves:
http://mouser.dcmembers.com/boiler/Picture%20050.jpg

World Plumber

That might cause the coil to get hot. I would suggest turning the power off to the boiler then disconnecting a wire from the feeder and capping it with a wire nut or tapping it up with electrical tape. Then turning the power back onto the boiler.