Pressuretrol settings

Bio

In my rental house I found the Pressuretrol settings to be at 5 cut in and 1 cut out so I set it at 0.5 cut in and 1 cut out like recommended, what should I expect from the boiler with these settings different then what I found? also found my water level tube a little lower than half (equipped with auto fill) but 1/3 up the tube is clogged and with water

Hap_Hazzard

Pressuretrol settings

Lowering the cut-in and cut-out pressure on a Pressuretrol will make the burners cycle more frequently if the new settings are lower than the normal operating pressure of the system. If a steam heating system is adequately vented and well balanced, it can satisfy the thermostat and heat the entire living space without ever developing more than a few ounces of pressure, so the Pressuretrol might never come into play, but if your system was already cycling on pressure (i.e. the burners shut off and come back on several times before the thermostat cycles off), it will definitely shorten the cycle.



I'm not exactly sure what you're saying about the water level, but if the level is low, add water. Do not wait for the water feeder to do it automatically.



An automatic water feeder is a safety device. It is there to keep the boiler working in the event that a leak occurs while no one is around to add water manually.



Steam boilers need to be checked on a weekly basis. If it has a mechanical low-water cutoff, this needs to be blown down every week to keep it free of sediment and to check its operation. If it has a probe-type LWCO, you should still drain enough water to remove accumulated sediment from the bottom of the boiler. In either case you should always leave the boiler filled with water, and to prevent damage to the boiler, the new water should be added when the boiler is firing or when firing is imminent.

gerry gill

your pressuretrol settings are now better.

You will probably have less issues with spitting air vents too..your gauge glass it sounds like needs a good cleaning as well as the ports that connect the gauge glass to the boiler as they contain gunk in the horizontal sections. We use a 1/4 o.d. tube that we can shoot water thru to do this. The gage glass knobs need to be removed to do this..you may be uncomfortable doing that yourself. If so have your heating guy do it. Also ensure the pigtail that the pressuretrol is mounted to is open. We shoot water thru these to. The auto fill will only keep the water in the boiler at its safe minimum level. Not necessarily where you would optimally run the boiler at.

Bio

Boiler

The boiler was neglected, is 9 year old new yorker, I let it cool down and started flushing took me 1 hour of flushing until i saw clear water, also tried to drain the valve at bottom of Hartford loop and very little dirty water came out, about half a cup, the glass tube seems to be clogged half side up.. but I do see water on the bottom half as I filled it back again, I feel comfortable doing it myself, I do pvc plumbing in health care systems, but should I try to change the glass or just clean it, gauge I can remove and clean if you think is necessary, other thing I saw is tht the automatic damper has a auto/open switch and it was in open position so I left it like that, correct me if I'm wrong if I put it in auto and should there be an issue this will shut off the boiler? so I could put it in auto

gerry gill

If the glass is really bad

we usually just change them as they are inexpensive..just make sure you also get a nut, ring and washer set (2) for the top and bottom of the glass..i'd say half the dampers in town are locked open due to causing boiler issues..

Bio

Return drain valve

Thanks Gerry, one more concern what about draining the return, is it normal for only a small amount of water (1/2 cup or less) come out or could it be clogged ?