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NTI Boiler drawing constant water??

MurkyH20
MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
in Radiant Heating
Hi first time poster looking for a clue.  I have a 5 year old NTI ti gas fired boiler heating 3 zones in my home.  Basement, domestic and garage.  About two weeks ago I noticed my water softener was using a large amount of salt and seen I was drawing water constantly and it was too the boiler.  I thought I may have a leak in one of my pex lines so I started closing zones to try to nail it down.  I shut all the zones off and it still draws water to the boiler.  Is it firing and just blowing out the vent?  And/or why would it do this? The installer went out of business so I want to get a heads up before I call in another contractor to fix this problem.  Thanks for any help.



Dan

Comments

  • RobbieDo
    RobbieDo Member Posts: 131
    Trinity NTI

    I have installed many of them with great success. Do you have a tankless domestic water heater in the unit? Is soft water feeding the boiler? Thank you

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  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,858
    Check the condensate drain....

    If the heat exchanger has failed due to chlorides from your softener, then it will have a constant flow of water through the condensate drain. Especially if you isolated the distribution system and the flow continues.



    Stainless steel HATES chlorides in water. It causes chloride stress cracking and resultant failure...



    ME

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  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    edited March 2011
    Reply

    Thanks for the reply Rob.



    The boiler is feeding a Mega Store indirect water heater and yes there is softened water going to the boiler.  There is water in the condensate line, but there is not a flow coming out of it, other than a drop here or there. 
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,858
    Well or city water...

    If you are on city water, and the water pressure is greater than 30 PSI, you will know of the heat exchanger for the DHW system has failed, because the pressure relief valve of the boiler will be puking water constantly.



    Easy enough to figure out. Turn the cold water off to the water heater and see if the flow stops.



    If the flow continues, you may have frozen and broken a line in the radiant floor heating system, probably in the crawl space.



    Keep looking. You need to find it soon or you may be replacing your boiler as well.



    ME

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  • RobbieDo
    RobbieDo Member Posts: 131
    Water Softener

    First off, soft water shouldn't be going to a boiler like that, it ruins them. You don't have a tankless water heater inside the unit? What is the model number? Some of them have tankless units built in and some don't, lets start there. Thanks

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  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    edited March 2011
    Reply

    Model # Ti150, serial # 20106.  I tried ME's advice and shut the supply water off to the Mega Store and the flow to the boiler continued.



    Thanks, Dan
  • RobbieDo
    RobbieDo Member Posts: 131
    Shut Water Off

    You said that you shut the water off to the indirect water heater, opened the PRV and got no water out of it. It sounds like you might have a leak in the radiant tubing in the floors. Do you have pics of the system? Thanks

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  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    Reply

    Rob



    I'll get some pictures up to help you guys out some.  I have all supply and return valves closed to all three zones and no water running out of the condensate line and the water is still being introduced to the system.  Again I'll get some pictures up and help you guys out.  It should be good for a few laughs.



    Murky    
  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    picts

    Here are the picts of my setup.  I found the problem.  Its the pex run that runs along my garage doors that must of froze and broken.  Remember when I said I closed all the valves too and from all my zones and I still had makeup water running steady to the system?  Well the check valve and Hammod valve failed and allowed makeup water to flow threw them.  I have a closeup picture of the two valves.  I can't believe it either but its true,  hands on the pipes don't lie. 

    18 g's and I'm not happy but at least I have it figured out.  I borrowed a pex tool and sealed off the line and the makeup water stopped flowing.

    What was thaw and runoff water in the front of my garage was not.  I'm ashamed to take pictures but there is nothing money can't fix.  It was two weeks worth. 



    Murky
  • Slimpickins
    Slimpickins Member Posts: 348
    Piping issues

    I don't mean to bust your chops on your system but you did post it for all to see.

    I see a few things that could make your system perform b etter. The supply and return to the indirect tank is on the supply of the primary loop within a few inches of each other. I don't see the boiler or indirect tank getting proper flow. When there is a DHW call, the Sentry 2100 control shuts off the primary pump and powers the indirect pump only. I don't see enough water going thru the boiler with those tee's so close together.  Next, the supply and return to the radiant should be closer together off the primary loop .Personally I would have used the closely placed tee's for my primary loop and used the run of the tee's for the secondary. I don't see enough isolation and boiler drains to purge the radiant as well. Also I don't see a hole drilled on the PVC exhaust vent for a combustion test. The discoloring of the PVC on the exhaust tells me it running hot. Possibly from too rich of gas mixture, dirty heat exchanger or poor flow on DHW and radiant pumping. Not sure if the pumps are sized correctly since you haven't given that info. Oh yeah, one of the pumps has the cartridge pointing down, it should be horizontal for proper cooling.



    Don't worry, I've seen worse, it won't take too much to make changes for the better
  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    ok

    Thanks for the advice.  I didn't do the install.  I'm not a heating guy.  The guys that installed it went out of business and I guess are now driving truck so I'm just trying to get it running properly. 

    I did have a combustion test done about a year ago and it tested within spec I was told.  I had this done when I had a recall part replaced that supposedly could fail and allow for carbon dioxide to fill the house.  I found this out by accident when searching for information on my boiler on the net. 

    I had one reputable company come in and they wanted 2 grand to re pipe the system.  It seemed to be working fine up until this point all be it maybe not as efficient as it should be so I didn't want to do that.
  • Slimpickins
    Slimpickins Member Posts: 348
    "seems"

    It will seem to work fine until the heat exchanger fails from low flow and lack of cleaning. You said you'd post pics and that we might get a good laugh. Well to us professionals on here its no laughing matter. We like to focus on being safe, making sure equipment is working to its potential. We don't quote prices on here but I would take that company up on their re-piping quote.  
  • MurkyH20
    MurkyH20 Member Posts: 7
    Thanks

    Sorry for the quotes.  Your point is well taken.  Thank you for your help and professional opinions.  Much appreciated. 



    Dan
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