Is there too much water in my boiler?

BEERRUNNER

I have a steam boiler with 1 pipe inlet and vented radiators. Lst year it worked great. this year my service guy came and mvoed the thermostat to another room AND added more water to my boiler.

Now the radiators make more nice........and some of the radiators theres like water dripping(very little) from some of the shut off valves(thing you turn to close radiatoer/open) on the inlet site.

The sight glass is about 1/2 way or so.......I remember it being at 1/3 or so.....



Any sugegstions?

BEERRUNNER

More info

Also the vents at the radiator hiss alot louder than last year. any ideas on how to quiet the hissing.

Rod

Boiler Water Level

Hi- First of all I would recommend you get a very good book on steam heatiing that is offered in the Shop section of this website . It's called "We Got Steam Heat!" Here's a link to it:   http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Steam-Heating-Books/25/61/We-Got-Steam-Heat-A-Homeowners-Guide-to-Peaceful-Coexistence

It's easy reading and explains how your steam system operates and what can be done to increase its efficiency. This book very quickly pays for itself in increased comfort and efficiency.



Boiler Water level- If you have the Installation & Operating manual for your boiler it should show the height of the waterline somewhere in the manual.  If you don't have a copy of this manual let us know what the make and model number of your boiler is and we can look it up for you. It's important that the boiler operate with the water at the appropriate level.

- Rod

JStar

RE

Could be that some of the near boiler piping isn't within normal standards, making the waterline more critical than usual. Sometimes you see the entire system full of water, but a plugged up sight glass gives a false reading for normal level.

lchmb

curious

Did you ask him to move the t-stat? Was there a problem that you asked him to look into? Was the heat inconsistant last year or did you discuss problems with him? Where on your site glass is the water level now?

nicholas bonham-carter

newly hissing vents

several things to check into when you can hear the vents hissing:

1.the main vents are going bad [you are paying the fuel company extra to force the air out of the pipes].

2.the pigtail has plugged up [you are paying the fuel company extra to raise the pressure needlessly above 1.5 psi].

make sure the thermostat has been set for steam at 1 cph, or the anticipator is set properly.--nbc 

Jamie Hall

First thing I'd look at...

did your handy serviceman change the pressure setting of the pressuretrol?  That would do it.  First thing I'd look at if faced with hissing or spitting vents... 



Also check the other suspects others have mentioned -- is the gauge glass really reading the water level correctly?  Is the pressuretrol able to sense the pressure properly?



A difference in water level from about a third up to a half up really shouldn't cause a problem -- but a bad pressure setting surely will.