Water Loss

ACG

I know this question may be subjective but...I read in Dan's book that fresh water is bad for the system. I do not have an automatic feed valve and have to add water manually. I know that waterloss is inevitable, but I am adding water every 2-3 days which seems to frequent.

If the system is working properly, how often should water need to be added?

nicholas bonham-carter

normal water loss?

how big is your system, and how much are you adding every time? if the waterline is at normal when cold, how many days will it take for the waterline to drop to the lwco cut-off point? are you testing your lwco regularly?

on a cold day, with the boiler firing, can you see any trace of steam coming from your chimney? are there any obvious steam or water leaks, no matter how small?

are there any return lines underground, or hidden where a leak would be obvious?--nbc

ACG

normal water loss

Its a one pipe system with two mains connected to 10 radiators. If I had to guess the total length of the two mains I would say between 120 and 140 feet long.

I generally add water when it is within a 1/2' to 1 " of the lwco. I check the lwco about once per week and I add water twice, sometimes three times per week.

I do not see steam coming from the chimney nor do I see signs of water leakage. I do not have proper main vents which I am having installed next week and I do get very slight steam/drops of water coming out of some of the radiator vents.

I also recently discovered that someone at some point wedged a piece of rock at the bottom of the drip connect/dry(wet) return which was causing the slope of the last pipe on the main to slope back towards the main and not towards the drip connect/dry(wet) return. After removing the rock, the water instantly became visibly dirty. I tried to empty as much of the dirty water from the boiler but did not flush out the entire system. The house heats faster now and I no longer have water hammer.

I imagine at this point the problem is probably down to the lack of proper main vents but is there anything else I should be looking out for? 

nicholas bonham-carter

flooding the boiler

just for your own piece of mind, you could have the boiler over-filled, while the main vents are put in. over-filling should reveal any pinhole leaks in the boiler, as dripping will be seen in the boiler.

check your pressure as well, to make sure it does not exceed 1.5 psi for normal operation [12 ounces for economy, and real comfort!]. and remember, that there is no such thing in my book as an over-vented main!--nbc

Rod

Water/Steam Leak?

Hi- It sounds as though you have a small water or a steam leak somewhere.

Possibilities- In a suspected leak situation any underground return lines are always highly suspect. You can also lose a surprising amount of water from something like a tiny leak on a radiator intake valve stem. You could possibly have a pinhole leak high in your boiler above the waterline. This can be checked by flooding the boiler (be careful not allow the water to go higher than the boiler) and watching for any leaking water to appear. This is best done with the boiler cold as a tiny leak will evaporate with the boiler warm and therefore not showup. This test is something you probably want to wait for warmer weather to do and in the meantime you may find the source of the leak somewhere else like a leaky radiator vent. Just keep looking and fixing.

- Rod