Water Level - Steam heat

Boston_2

Chasing a water issue, every week I loose about 1/8 of water out of my site glass??? I have checked all the valves and there doesn’t seem to be a leak anywhere? Can you loose that much water through the radiator vents?

nicholas bonham-carter

lost water

do your vents hiss a lot?
when do you check the water level? if it is during a heating cycle; the level can be changeable, especially if you have dirty water,bad venting,or overly high steam pressure [only ounced are required].check the water when the system has cooled down a bit,and mark the level with a clothes pin on the sight-glass rods, so you can see any changes later.
if you have an auto-fill, close the valve and see if you are really losing water, or are only suffering "lazy returns".
you may benefit from the purchase of one of dan's steam books [available on this site], so that you may become beter informed about your boiler.
you already have one of the best heating systems ever developed,and all you have to do is to maintain it as the original designers intended.--good luck nbc

Timco

On a cold night, look at your chimney and see if there is any excess vapor...or you can flood a cold boiler to check it for a leaking section. Vents should close quickly when steam hits them...do you have a wet return underground? May be rotted out under a slab...

Tim