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Water Hammer cure !

Marty in Kalamazoo
Marty in Kalamazoo Member Posts: 3
in THE MAIN WALL
One option of many possible fixes:

I think I've solved my water hammer/banging problem ... and maybe my sleuthing will help someone else out there.

My "new-to-me" (1914 vintage) house came with a "new" one pipe steam boiler which replaced an original/older unit which cracked when frozen during an unsupervised vacancy before I bought the house.

It was supposed to be a bulletproof, city-inspected, up-to-code, triple-checked, ready-to-go deal ...

The heating season with my "new boiler" started with horrible banging and hammering. It was like people were fighting with iron pipes next to the bed all night long for a week or two.

After consulting with a great local dead-guy (Boiler Brad from Suburban Heating in Kalamazoo) and doing a little investigating on my own, I'd give this a try if you have a new or new-to-you system that is banging:

Check the sight glass (glass water tube) on your boiler. Mine was FULL (wayyyy too much water) when the system was dormant, and bouncing up and down like the stock market when the boiler was fired.

I also had water running (not trickling) down in to the glass tube when the boiler was running (coming back into the system from the return pipes down the top of the glass tube)

My system had recently been worked on (repiping, new boiler etc) by two different contractors before I bought the house.

Here's the hint:

Dirty water (corrosion broken loose during work and/or thread/pipe oil from new work) can cause DIRTY WATER. Dirty Water causes surging (impure water boils differently than clean water) and causes the water inside the boiler pot to heave and ho up and down. Hence the volcano in my site glass tube ...

The down-side of this cycle causes the auto-water feeder to add MORE water even if its not needed .. and that water ends up in your header, piping and radiators which causes:

BANG. Pipe fights in the bedroom.

Solution: SKIM the water from the top of your boiler pot until she runs clear. You will need to find (or install) a valve where the header/steam pipe comes out the top of your boiler and then keep (manually with the power switch and water fill bypass valve) filling, heating and dumping out the dirty water A LITTLE BIT AT A TIME until it is clean

Make SURE you do this correctly .. most important is NO COLD WATER in a HOT steam pot or you'll be buying a new boiler! Add a little at a time (1/4 or less of the pot?) until you have achieved success.

Hint: This is not a 20 minute project. Its an all day job if your syetem is dirty. And DON'T add soap or anything else PLEASE. Just do it slow and heat and skim, heat and skim, heat and skim ...

Now I'm getting a lot more sleep!

CLEAN WATER is way more important than you may realize.

Your boiler is an engine. It won't run on Mud, grease, rust or the rest.

Also, be VERY wary of stupid contractors. I've had several boilers and it seems like their first option is always to "replace that old boiler .. its SHOT"

If its not pouring water on your floor (from something more than a valve or pipe outside the boiler itself) , its not broken !

Don't replace the boiler, replace the contractor !

Please don't allow your unfamiliarity with steam heat let you get talked into a $25,000 "upgrade" that you didn't need.

That old boiler will last longer than the contractor will!

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