troubleshooting a 67 series lwco

Moshe

Hi

Can anyone give me some info how to clean out a lwco that is not shutting the boiler when the water level goes down. It does turn on the water feeder.

Besides the regular weekly blow down.

Thanx a bunch

Rod

Get a Pro to look at it.

Hi Moshe- The Low Water Cut Off is a primary safety device.  With all respect, if you aren't familiar and qualified to service them, you should leave it to someone who is. Call a pro and have them check it out for you. For the homeowner, trouble shooting / fixing burners and primary safety devices like LWCOs are best left to a pro.

- Rod

If you want to see what happened before they had safety devices like Low Water Cuts Offs, type the words "Boiler Explosions" in the Site Search window.

Oak Park Electric

Avoiding kaboom

I have to second that.  A cutoff that is malfunctioning in either of its duties is a critical safety hazard and MUST NOT be allowed to continue operating.  This is even more so when there is only one of them.  My 150 hp steamer at work has two, as do most large boilers.  The condition you describe is perfect for a really dangerous situation where the water feeder fails to open, for whatever reason (could be electric or mechanical failure), but the cutoff does not stop the burner.  Now the boiler dry fires for a while, and then the feeder suddenly opens, sending cold water into the red hot block.  The very best thing that can happen is that the sections will crack and you will need a new boiler.  The worst is an explosion that will cause severe damage.  A flaky cutoff should be replaced, and only by somebody who knows what they are doing.  If you are not proficient with boiler controls, call somebody. Always put safety first when you are dealing with these kind of things, a new cutoff is cheap compared to the alternative.