Water in glass is high.

Johnny13

This morning my vents were louder than usual, and some of the radiators were not heating like they usually do. Others were very hot. I went to the basement and found the boiler running all the burners and the water level higher than usual. I went and looked at the radiators again that were cool. Realized they were in the room with the thermostat, and that the system was going to keep on calling for heat, so I turned the therm down. This quieted everything down, and heat flowed into the rads about as far across as I normally expect to feel. The water in my sight glass is now near the top tho. It normally rests near the bottom third.



Should I blow it down? This is the day I normally do that, and I did it when I first went down to check on things.

Johnny13

When running

I just went back down and checked. When the system is running, the water in the glass drops to about the 3/4 full mark. I blew it down again a fair bit, but the water returned to the same level. It is a cool morning (20º) but nothing terribly unusual.

Johnny13

As of right now.

The radiator in the room with the thermostat is heating now. The 2 in the front of the house are cool. I took the vent off and was able to get one to heat a bit, so I put that back on. The temperature in here is comfortable. I played with things a bit and brought the water level down a little bit, but it still makes me nervous.



I don't know enough to diagnose, but I am wondering if it is a clog in the pigtail to the Pressutrol. Everything seems like it is working harder than usual.



I had planned to call Boilerpro at the end of the season to get my system looked over and improved, but it looks like I am going give him a call today. In the meantime, and I in danger of wrecking the system, or leaving my wife and daughter in a dangerous situation if I leave for work with things as they are?

Chris M_2

Water Level

When the boiler is cool, the water level shouldn't be at the very top of the sight glass; it should be somewhere towards the middle. To be sure, look online for the specs to your particular boiler. It sounds to me like those cold rads' vents are blocked, and are not allowing steam to enter.  I'd shut the power to the boiler off for a while to let it cool down, and let the water in the returns (and maybe in the rads) return to the boiler. Then drain the water down (drain plug, maybe ball valve) until it's at the proper level, close the drain, fire it up again, sit and watch the boiler, making notes of what happens next (how long it takes heat to get to the rads, does it get to all rads, what's the water level doing throughout the cycle, is there banging, how long does it take for the water to return to proper level when boiler shuts itself off, does it shut off because the pressure setting is met... 1-1/2 lbs +-, or does the boiler shut off when the thermostat is satisfied)... Post your findings and you'll get better responses than mine. -Chris

Johnny13

Thank you

I will try what you said.



I took off and tapped out the vents on the cold radiators before I left and was able to blow thru them. After that I turned up the heat just a touch and they did start to heat nicely. The water in the glass at the time I left was bouncing between 3/4 and 4/5 full.

Johnny13

Things are better.

The resting level of the water is about 2/3rds of the way up the glass. About 6" above the minimum water line. It dropped about 5º in the house, and I turned the therm back to the normal level. It is working hard to return it to temperature and all the rads are heating, and moving from fin to fin  with regular progress. I has the rads painted last year, and some of these fins have not heated before, because I can smell the fresh paint baking in. I did not drain the boiler at all because it seems to be better now than it has been all year. No knocks or pings. Just the sound of air escaping, and vents clanging shut. I don't know why that water level zoomed up, but it seems much better now.



Thanks for the advice.