Dirty Boiler water

So_fee

I have a couple of things going wrong:

I have a Weil-McLain EG Boiler, not completely sure how old it is.

We brought the house in 2009, our first winter we noticed that the steam vents all hissed when we turned on the heat, it really didn't bother us- so we haven't replaced them.

Now, we are experiencing very hard and loud banging from our pipes and even clangs from some of our radiators. We called someone to come out and check it and they drained our boiler because the water was extremely dirty and our gauge glass was completely filled. After he did that, we had no problems for about a month (except from the hissing from the vents). Now, I'm finding that we are having to drain the boiler every couple of days (sometimes everyday) in order for the banging to stop. Some of the radiators leak that dirty water from the vents & we have to put containers to catch it. What should we do? We are calling the service guy again but wanted to see if there is something that we could do.

Thanks

nicholas bonham-carter

dirty water

when the tech comes back, he should clean the pigtail under the pressuretrol, as i think it has become blocked, resulting in  a drastic rise in pressure.

as you must have an auto-fill device, ask the tech to close it off and show you how to turn it on, when needed. with your current problems, the boiler will be over-filling frequently.

cleaning the boiler is very important, and you may need more cleaning than the one draining you had at first. skimming may be needed to remove any oils from the top of the boiler water.--nbc

crash2009

EG-??

I have the same boiler.  Mine is an EG-55.  Shine a flashlight in the opening in the front of the boiler, and you will see the identification plate/sticker.  What is the model and serial number?  If you contact Weil Mclean and give them the serial, they can tell you what age the boiler is. 



I had this same problem with mine last winter.  The boiler would fill up, then boil all the water out of itself, then add more water, to the point where all the pipes in the house were full of water, and nothing would work until I drained it.  In my case the wet returns were plugged because of poor design, and lack of maintenance.  The previous homeowner here was unable to maintain them.  You may have other piping problems as I did.  Ask your tech to get the wet returns flowing again.  If you show us a picture of the boiler, we can point out to you what a wet return is.  This may be helpful to you when you have your tech over again.  When you take the pictures stand back as far as possible and try to show all the pipes connected to the boiler and how they connect to the pipes in the ceiling.



All this adding and draining of water is not good for the longevity of your boiler. 

So_fee

Pics

Here are some pics of the boiler. I've been draining the boiler until the water in the glass gauge is about half and haven't been having any problems since. Hope this helps. The lighting is bad in that room and my phone doesn't have a flash.

Thanks

crash2009

Draining the boiler to keep it running

 You gotta do what you gotta do until it gets fixed.  I suppose you know that if you go out of town, or forget to drain it, you will likely get a flood upstairs. 

It gets worse, Somebody used copper instead of steel for your steam pipes.  When steam hits the copper there is a metallic reaction.  The copper starts to rot, and the water pollutes your boiler.  You need to re-pipe the boiler using steel above the water-line.  Use both exits at the top of the boiler. 

I will send you some pictures of how it should look later today.

David Nadle

source?

Crash, do you have an authoritative source for this information that steam "rots" copper?

crash2009

Rot is a bad choice of words

  What is the correct way to explain that David?

nicholas bonham-carter

electrolytic corrosion

when copper and iron/steel are threaded together, and in the presence of water, a small current is generated which can remove the iron molecules, especially when the iron is galvanised. the dirty water may be rust particles which have been "liberated"  by this electro-chemical reaction.

that is why plumbers use a dielectric fitting which isolates each side from the other. various university studies have proved both sides of the electrolysis/corrosion argument, and now the standard practise is to isolate each material using a brass fitting, as the dielectrics are prone to leaking.

the real problem with copper on headers is that of the higher coefficient of expansion, which can put undue stress on the boiler sections. your piping seems not to follow the standards which are required by the mfg's installation requirements, and so when you correct it, be sure to use iron pipe.

can you turn off your auto-fill, and observe how long it takes for the boiler to need water?--nbc

David Nadle

What nbc said

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So_fee

Auto Fill

We recently had a problem where our auto-fill wasn't working so we were refilling our boiler every couple of days. Now we are having the problem where our boiler is over filling! But, to turn off our auto-fill, I'm not sure how to do that.

So_fee

Thanks

How much do you think that will cost-- refitting with steel?

nicholas bonham-carter

stopping the auto fill

there must be a valve, which stops the water going into the auto-fill. maybe you can trace the pipes.--nbc

crash2009

So-fee, I was wondering if you could help me so that I can help you

  Usually when someone asks "how do I shut off the water feeder"  it is pretty easy for us to download your picture, draw a circle on it, then upload it back here for you to see.  You took some great pictures, but, when I zoom them they get all blurred.  They are in a too small resolution.  Could you take some more with a different camera? 

So_fee

OK

OK. I will, thanks for your help.