Steam Question

Paul Fredricks_3

We've got a customer with a one year old steam boiler. This is a nice, and probably fairly expensive house. There is no auto feed on the boiler. The customer states that the old unit had an auto feed that stuck open while they were on vacation, and it caused $40k worth of damage to the house. I can understand his fear of feeders.



I was thinking that a float device placed up high paralleling the equalizer  could operate a solenoid in the fresh water line. Not perfect, but maybe another step of safety. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Unknown

Water Feeders

You might want to contact Gerry Gill as he has some experience with this and discusses it on this link. http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=500

There was also some discussion on this recently http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/129877/boiler-overfilled

- Rod

Paul Fredricks_3

OK

Interesting stuff, but Gerry's doesn't help if the feeder itself sticks. I guess that same approach could be used to work a solenoid in the water supply and close it on a pressure rise. We are giving him a price on a vaporstat, so the existing PA404 could be used to operate the valve in case of overfeed. They are using the coil for a hot water loop so the solenoid could be placed before that feeder in case the coil ever leaks.

Unknown

Hydro Level

I'm not sure if you can really make anything "bullet proof".  The best setup I have seen is a manual water feed using a ball valve as a master shut off and  a spring loaded tap (like they use on drinking fountains) located in a position so you can see the water level. The spring loaded eliminates the possibility of turning on the valve and forgetting it. The benefit of manual feeding is that the owner has to actually physically check the boiler once in a while.



You might want to check the Hydro Level catalog as they have several high water switches for boilers that might be of use to you.

- Rod

Paul Fredricks_3

ooo

Starts getting pretty pricey. I'll have to see if he's happy doing what he's doing. Right now he has to add water every 2 days, but I found that both of his #75 are blowing steam. Pricing out a Gorton #2 for each main. That should calm things down a bit.



Thanks Rod.

jpf321

have a look at my discussion of the same...

Paul --



Have a look at my discussion on the same recently ... http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/129357/adding-a-high-water-cut-off .. I came up with the possibility of an F&T piped to a drain .. but was unable to properly size one for domestic water pressure .. let me know if you get anywhere ..



And in the recent thread that Rod posted, Charlie pointed out that if you have a solenoid shut of a feed which is sufficiently back from the boiler (like the main house feed) you will effectively kill all water inlet into the boiler and any boiler appliances.



Yes this stuff may get expensive, but I think it will be less than $40K :-)



jpf

jpf321

fyi...

i got a hydrogard 727 on ebay a couple of weeks ago for under $200. I think they had one more available at the time. it came quickly and in new condition.