Water level

NC

Please don't laugh!  I'm on my own taking care of an old house that has steam heat.  The boiler is also old - probably 25 years - and is a HB Smith.  How do I add water to the boiler?  The water level gauge is getting low.  And, the discharge (for lack of a better word) pipe - how often should water be released from the boiler?  Thanks for your help and thanks for not laughing.

BobC

adding water to steam boiler

There should be a copper pipe that goes into the bottom section of the boiler, follow that up and you will find a valve that controls the water feed to the boiler. Don't feed water into a steaming hot boiler, warm is ok as long as you feed the water in slowly. Turn that on and watch the water level in the sight glass as it fills, you want the sight glass to be about half full. It doesn't take more than 30-60 seconds. make sure to turn that valve off completely when your done.



After filling it to the correct level turn the heat up so the water boils in the boiler, that will drive off any dissolved oxygen so you don't cause any corrosion. If your still in doubt about which valve post a couple of pictures and we should be able to help you find the right valve.



Bob

NC

Picture

I've attached a picture.  As you can see, there are two valves.  Neither one puts water into the water fill gauge.

crash2009

Take another picture

Stand back some more.  Its over to the left.  By the way, you just found one of your leaks.  See all that green stuff at the bottom of the sight glass.  (on the brass part) That means its leaking. 

NC

Water level

It's not so much green as rust colored.

NC

another pic

another pic

crash2009

I'm not talking

 about the water "inside the glass"  I'm referring to all that green corrosion outside the glass. On the brass.  The water is leaking out of the sight glass.  Its leaking right where I drew the green arrow.  Looks like about a quarter inch a week.

NC

leakage

Okay, yeah I see what you're talking about.  Now how do I get water into the boiler?

crash2009

I still can't see

 the valve we are looking for.  You need to take the pictures from farther back.  All 4 sides of the boiler, if possible.  Stand back as far as you can.  We will find it eventually. 

NC

pics

I tried the only other valve that I could see.

crash2009

Manual fill valve?

That looks like it way up there.  I am not 100% sure though.  Can you get a second opinion?

NC

valve

I tried that valve but the water level in the gauge didn't go up.  Thanks anyway.

crash2009

When you tried that valve

 did you hear anything?  Like maybe water running?

ed wallace

fill valve

if you open that valve that was pointed out to you and water level does not rise either valve is bad there is another valve on that pipe or the glass cock which was pointed oit to you that is leaking is full of gunk and boiler water level is not showing you did not say where you live might be better if you gave a location maybe there is a steam guy who comes here that can help you

Jean-David Beyer

Blowdown?

I probably know less about steam boilers than anyone on this web site. But it is my impression that Low Water Cut Off devices should be blown down about once a week. On this one there seems to be a shaft coming out of the LWCO with no handle on it where I would expect the blow down control to be. Do I infer correctly that this unit is not blown down regularly? Or does it have some automatic way to blow down?

crash2009

NC, Looks like

you need to call someone in.  Thanks Ed and JDB

1a-manual fill valve doesn't work

1b-no water feeder

2a-sight glass leaking

2b-lower site glass cock might be plugged

3a-no handle on low water cutoff for blowdown

If you need someone to come over, you could use the "find a contractor" section at the top of the page.

BobC

Make sure gauge glass valves are both open

The valve that Crash pointed out should be the boiler fill valve. Make sure the valves above and below the sight glass are fully open (full ccw) so they will "see" the boiler water level.



When you open up the fill valve you should hear water flowing through it and the water level in the sight glass should slowly rise. If you don't hear water flowing when that valve is open then you have a problem further up the line.



I agree you should have someone look at this system to install a blow down handle and fix the leak on the lower part of the sight glass. that lower sight glass leak might just need the bonnet nut tightened up a bit but don't go to far or you will crack the glas tube.



Bob

NC

Valve

Yes, I did hear water running when I turned that top valve.

NC

blowdown

In the box that you highlighted there is a hex screw (along with a wrench) .  When you turn the screw, rusty water is discharged from the pipe.  That should be done often?  How do I know when to close it?  Will water run clean eventually?

NC

contractor

Intersting....there's no contractor (from this site) within a 100 mile radius!!

crash2009

The low water cutoff

 is supposed to be blown down every week or so during the heating season, and once in awhile during the summer.  Most, if not all that I have seen always have a yellow handle, like the one in this photo.  Yours, for some reason has been removed. 

Exactly which city and state are you located in?

NC

Water cut-off

I'm in Vermont.

JamesC in Stamford CT

blow down -- how much?

The blow down should happen once a week during heating season, like they said. For me, I do about 1 quart or two a week -- it's not too good to have to remove larger quantities of water from the system than needed, since then you eventually will need to replace it, and introducing more fresh water than can be helped can lead to other issues. So the flushing of the blowdown is meant to keep the crud from glunking it up. If you have not done it in a while, maybe a little more at first, maybe a gallon or more to flush things out the first couple of times, see if it gets clear(er). But I would not do that until you figure out how to get water feeding back in the system! Probably, that'll simply take some hard looks at the water supply piping and tracing it to see how it connects and where there are valve to open to let the water in to the boiler system.

Charlie from wmass

How far up in Vermont?

Maybe something could be arranged I could make a trip to the Green mountains.

Jamie Hall

Take Charles

up on his offer, unless you are north of Montpelier -- it would be worth it.



I'm concerned that you say that you hear water running when you open what does look to be a manual water fill valve -- but that you don't see a change in the gauge glass.  That running water sound suggests that water is going somewhere... and you need to know where!  You also need to know how much water is in that boiler... and it sounds as though you really don't know...

Rod

Steam Books

Hi NC - It sounds as though your boiler needs a good going over by a steam pro.

If it is practical, I’d get Charlie Garrity as he is very experienced with steam.

Don’t be embarrassed about asking questions . Most of the homeowners on here have been in the same position as you at one time or another and have learned by asking questions.  



There are also some  really good books on residential steam heating  available on this website in the “Shop” section at the top of the page. I would recommend starting out with “We Got Steam Heat!” It’s written for the homeowner who is new to steam and contains a lot of information , diagrams and explanations.   It’s easy, humorous reading and in a few evenings you’ll be light years ahead in your knowledge of steam heating.  Here is a link to the book:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Books/5/61/We-Got-Steam-Heat-A-Homeowners-Guide-to-Peaceful-Coexistence

I’m sure you have more questions so don’t hesitate to ask them.

- Rod