Aftermath of overfilled boiler

M & S

Hello-
Yesterday, someone (er, me) accidentally left the manual feed on for several hours on our Weil McLain boiler that connects to a steam heat system. When we discovered it, it was overfilled, some water had leaked into the basement, and a small amount of water had come out of the steam valves on each of the radiators, upstairs and downstairs. We called our oil company's service dept and they said to drain the boiler and it would be fine. This morning, the furnace kicked on and hissing heat went to all but two radiators just fine. Two radiators on the first floor were still cold with a little water coming out of the steam valves still. Does anyone know why those two haven't returned to normal and how we can fix them? Thanks in advance for any advice!
-M & S

Jamie Hall

For some reason

there is still water trapped. It could be in the lines to the radiators -- check and make sure that they really do have the right pitch to drain back to the boiler. Or it could be in the returns, ditto. Or it might even be in the radiator -- they must be pitched so that the water can drain out.

M & S

Thanks for the reply. Here's a little more info. It's a one-pipe steam system, and the radiators are pitched at least 1/4" back to the pipe. I'm going to try changing the steam release vents in case they have water trapped in them (maybe rust in the system caused some blockage?). If that doesn't work, the only other idea I had was to disconnect the radiators tip them on their sides to release any possible trapped water. Any other ideas? I don't know if I'm missing any other possibilities...

nicholas bonham-carter

idiot-proof feed valve

after i did the same thing a couple of times, i put a spring-loaded valve on, such as would be on a camp shower.

i think if you change the air vents or clean them, the water should drain out after a couple of cycles, unless the steam valve has dropped its disk. you could check that by removing the bonnet of the valve, and looking at the valve-stem.--nbc

M & S

Thanks

...for the help. We replaced the valves and everything seems to be back to normal (knock on wood)!