Steamaster tablets water treatment

ChrisJ

While it has not been long since I added 2 of them, my PH  went from between 6 and 7 and settled around 9.  What really amazed me is when I drain water from the boiler its crystal clear other than the violet tint.



While running the gauge glass water is also perfectly clear with around 1/2" of movement.  I have NEVER seen my water stay clean like this.



I'm sold on Rectorseal Steamaster tablets.  Thanks Gerry Gill!

crash2009

That's great news Chris

  Have those waterlogged Hoffmans straightened themselves out now that you have drier steam?

ChrisJ

Don' t know

Crash, I wish I could say yes but I saw times when they went weeks with no problems so I'm not getting my hopes up.



btw, never received the Gorton yet not sure if it got lost in the mail due to Sandy or not.

gerry gill

Glad its working out for you.

I plan on washing out my boiler really well and switching over to steamaster also..ive been using rhomar in mine and it boils great with it but i too noticed my customers who had steamaster in the boiler had better looking water than my own boiler had..cant have that.

ChrisJ

Dosage

Gerry,



What confuses me most is why they give the instructions they do. For my boiler they claim I need 12 tablets! Yet those instructions are followed by "or until water turns violet" .



I wonder why the confusion, perhaps commercial boilers hold far more water for the connected radiation?

nicholas bonham-carter

Additives???

I certainly value the observations here from experienced sallies about additives, but apart from the Ph adjustment, what are these tablets doing?

Every boiler has a bit of rusty water in it, looking like weak tea. If that water has become clear, then where has the rust gone?

Settling to the bottom is not the best place for it.--NBC

ChrisJ

sodium nitrite

The main ingredient is sodiun nitrite which is a common rust inhibitor.  How it functions I'm not totally sure but the idea is to stop the block from rusting.

The rust particles always settle to the bottom when the boiler is not firing this is simply reducing them a lot.

I found many artcles online regarding using corrosion inhibitors like sodium nitrite in boilers including this one which I posted in another thread recently : http://www.boilersmith.com/appendixd.html

crash2009

G1

We sent it October 25th.  USPS.  My receipt has been submitted to accounting for re-imbursement.  I could dig it out if we had to.  Phone your local USPS to see how long it will be before they catch up.  I would imaging they have a mountain of undelivered mail sitting somewhere. 

Bio

Tablets

Where did you get them from? I've been flushing my tenants boiler for two months and it keeps coming back, I was getting ready to use the Hercules brand found in pexsupply, my local stores dont carry them

ChrisJ

source

I bought mine from Amazon. 



http://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-68732-36-Steamaster-Tablets/dp/B008A3UEO6

Bio

Just a follow up onTablets

I thought I had most of the oxidation particles out of my tenants boiler after weeks of skimming and flushing but it will always come back lightly after couple of days, but when I used the tablets and put it to boil I was amazed how much more was in there, it almost adheres it self to the rust particles, and when I flushed ,it looked dark and brown with a violet background from the tablets, I followed it with a second treatment but it was already clear, now gauge glass stays clear with a light violet color and no rust has come back, thanks for the tip ChrisJ

Steve Nichols

clarification on process for using steamaster tablets

Hi Chris, Gerry, Bio, etc.

If I choose to join the steamaster bandwagon, what are the recommended steps to using them?  Right now boiler water has pH of 8+.



(1) After I add say 2 tablets (Burnham 5 section), do I fill the boiler all the way to the safety valve and get water to simmer or do I leave at normal water line and boil?



(2) Is there a problem with producing steam and having this stuff present in the steam that travels though the mains?



The reason I ask about (2) is there was an earlier thread in which Gerry recommended boiling for 10 mins with initial addition of tablets to water.  My boiler would definitely be making steam by that point so that stuff is going to be traveling out through the system.

I'm game to try it, but I do think my returns are going to continue to add crud to the water..but hey, why not see what happens, right?

Thanks in advance.

ChrisJ

boiling

Hi Steve,



As you know I am very new to this product and I would feel more comfortable with Gerry answering than me.  But as far as I know you fill to your normal level and let it boil for a while, its suppose to make steam during the cleaning process.



As far as the product being carried into the steam mains it doesn't matter.  Remember, you are suppose to leave a low level dose in the boiler all of the time, not wash it out.



I believe for cleaning the boiler Gerry had recommended 4 tablets and 1 or 2 for normal use after the cleaning and rinsing depending on the size boiler.  I went with 2 as my PH was on the low side and I wanted to raise it anyway.    I skipped the cleaning step as I had cleaned my boiler with the wand method a week before.  I just chucked two pills in and fired it up and I've had clean purple water since. 



If your PH is 8+ I would add only one pill after you are done cleaning and check the PH after a day or so

gerry gill

Pretty much as Chris says.

if your going to use it to clean, put in say four tablets and just fill to normal level and steam for a bit..10 minutes..20 minutes..something like that..dont be surprised if the boiler goes bonkers and you have to jump the pressure switch to keep it going..its cleaning and foaming..then drain out, flush, skim, wash out boiler..then just add one tablet and refill to normal..you should after a little time see a pink look to the water..if not add another tablet..dont follow the instructions on the bottle..its way to much..must be from a time when the boilers held much more water.

Bio

Use 4

I put 6 as directed by bottle and water at sight glass started to disappear and I could hear it in the mains so I guess mains are clean which is not bad I guess and after final rinse I added 1/2 tablet at a time until I saw pink, as Gerry suggested start with 4, 6 is an overkill

ChrisJ

6!

I'd love to know what your PH was with 6 tablets.



I'm curious if this stuff helps keep the mains and radiators from rusting or if it only effects the boiler water?  I would assume the steam doesn't carry anything to the radiators so it wouldn't help them but who knows?

Bio

Overkill

That's why I said it was an overkill, it didn't stay too long, about 5 minutes boiling, no steam made just boiled out of the boiler to the main, when the water came back to the sight glass it looked like Hot chocolate with the purple on it, I did it a second time with 4 just to see if anything else could came out but it was clear already, than flushed it clean and added 1 (1/2 tablet at a time) til I saw light pink

Steve Nichols

thanks!

I have a pretty good grasp on what to do after all your contributions.  I'll take a look at how to jump/bypass the pressure switch.  I can look up the info and see what needs to be done.

Thanks again everyone.  This should be fun!

ChrisJ

Still clean!

I posted this in another thread but wanted to add it here as well to keep this thread up to date and make it more useful.



This picture is of a small sample of water I drained from the boiler last night approx 1 month after cleaning it out and adding the steamaster tablets.  This came right from the boiler drain. 

Absolutely no signs of rust or cloudiness. PH is still a solid 9.



The gauge glass is still clean and clear even when steaming.

pcloadletter

How do you guys put the tabs in the boiler?

Seems like a simple thing to do but I think I'd need to disassemble some piping on mine to add anything to it.

ChrisJ

adding tablets

I uncap my skimmer and toss em in.  If they don't go in I use a wooden stick or something to push them in.

You may want to add or change some piping in order to add stuff when necessary.  If you have some pictures of the boiler we may be able to come up with some ideas.

pcloadletter

skim port

The skim port on my Peerless boiler is on the back and the plug has never been removed. I thought about installing a ball valve and a hose fitting but I haven't figured out how to remove the plug which has a recessed square head.

Hap_Hazzard

Boiler plugs

Usually you can use a socket wrench with a drive adapter, like a 1/2" flex handle and a 3/4" or 1" drive adapter, unless the socket is 7/8" or 13/16" or something similarly inconvenient. In that case you'll have to get a male plug wrench. If you need to buy a handle, I'd go with a 3/4" flex handle.

AaronH

Where can you buy these... I can't find them anywhere

I can't seem to find these online, and my local plumbing supply does not have them, either.



Where can you get these magic pills?

ChrisJ

Amazon

I bought mine from Amazon but it looks like they arn't available anymore?





I think this was the link

http://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-68732-36-Steamaster-Tablets/dp/B008A3UEO6





Not sure where to get them from now but I am concerned as I'm sure I'll need more at one point.

BobC

They should be back

Hopefully they will have them back in stock soon, you probably caused a run on their supply with your post about how well they work. I bought mine at Amazon as well but I know they were available from a lot of other online suppliers when i was looking, it's just hard to pass up the amazon free shipping deal.



Bob



Bob

DK27

Call the company

I was having trouble finding the tablets and so far amazon has not had them in stock to date. If you call the company at 1-800-231-3345 they will be able to direct you to the closest plumbing supply company that carriers their products.



Last night I ran the tablets in my boiler and now I'm not sure about what I should do next.  I used 4 tablets and let my boiler steam for about 45 min.  I drained the sludge and flushed the boiler for a while.  I added water back to with 2 more tablets and let boil. Now, the water in my sight glass looks like a purplish sludge.  What should my next steps be? 

ChrisJ

skimming

If I was you I would skim next.  Going by my experience I would skim somewhat slow and remove 20 gallons or so over a period of 2 hours.

After that drain completely and refill and see how it works out.  I also recommend building a wand to wash the boiler out but this takes time and costs money so its not an option for everyone.  If you either can't or don't want to build the wand you may need to drain and fill several times to get all of the gunk out.

DK27

Steamaster Tablets

I took ChrisJ's advice and proceeded to do a full cleaning of my boiler this weekend.  I made a cleaning wand out of copper pipe with a ball valve on the end, and hooked it up directly to my hot water heater.  The amount of sludge and rust that came out was incredible.  I washed and flushed the boiler multiple times until the water ran clear and finished it off by skimming for a few hours.  Finally I added 2 Steamaster tablets.  Ever since then the water has been a light purple with no signs of rust.  I'm extremely happy with the results and appreciate the advice and insight from Chris.

JStar

Steam tablets

Sid Harvey's has them. I'm going to try them out on the next job.

George80

Cast iron or steel boiler

Can these be used on a cast iron boiler or only a steel boiler? Or should I be using a liquid form?  I have a cast iron and I wanted to find out prior to ordering,.



Thanks.

ChrisJ

Cast iron

I don't know if they can be used in a steel boiler. All of the applications I have heard of as well as my own are cast iron boilers.