Shutting off automatic waterfeeder?

VickiS

I know most people don't use these and ours seems to be malfunctioning now.  The site glass is completely full yet when the system kicks on the automatic water feeder keeps trying to add more water to the boiler.  Is there a way to turn the water feeder off?  Is it as simple as turning the handle on the piping so that water is no longer able to get thru when the water feeder calls for it?  Can that cause more issues with the water feeder if it keeps trying to call for water but can't get it?  I've attached a couple pictures of the piping to our water feeder which I know is not the ideal design.  One pic is one that Rod mocked up for me showing where the water shut off lever is.  I just wasn't sure if that's what I should do to stop water from being added or if there is something on the water feeder itself to turn it off.  Thanks!



Vicki

BobC

That is the valve

Turn it off and drain the boiler down to it's normal level. Monitor the boiler to make sure the level does not increase.



Do you know if the low water cutoff shuts the boiler down if the water level drops?



Bob

Hap_Hazzard

Unfortunately it isn't piped correctly.

Those should be installed with a bypass valve, two isolation valves and pipe unions, so you can disconnect it to work on it or replace it and still use the manual bypass to fill the boiler.

VickiS

Re: Autofeeder

Thanks Bob and Hap.  The low water cutoff does shut down the boiler when it gets too low.  What I can't figure out is why the auto feeder is getting triggered when I can see that the water in the site glass is way too high.  For now I've got the water shut off and I will monitor what the water level does.  So far it's decreased slightly.

Hap_Hazzard

It's probably leaking.

The LWCO uses a different set of contacts for the water feeder and the gas valve. The feeder contacts close on low water, while the ones for the gas valve open, so it could work fine for one and not the other, but it's more likely that the valve is leaking.



Water feeders aren't designed to be used with any frequency, so the valves often fail to close if they're overused. If you disconnect the wires from the LWCO to the feeder, the LWCO wont be able to open it, so if it continues to overfill the boiler, you'll know it's a bad valve.

VickiS

Re: Leaking

I'm sorry Hap, I'm not sure I'm following what you are saying.  There are wires connecting the water feeder to the LWCO?  If I disconnect those, the water feeder could still be triggered by something else causing it to continue to overfill the boiler? To test, this I should disconnect the wires and turn the valve on the water pipe back on?   The wire coming from the water feeder seems to split...with one going to the LWCO and two going to a silver box on the side of the boiler.  You can kind of it in the attached picture.



Vicki

Hap_Hazzard

The silver box is the transformer.

That's where your 24v power comes from. So the valve is wired to one end of the secondary, and the switch is wired to the other, with a third wire connecting the switch to the valve. When the contacts close, the valve opens. Disconnect any one of those wires and the LWCO will not be able to open the valve. That means that if water can still flow through the valve, the valve is leaking. It's just like when you turn off a faucet and it continues to drip. That valve should be tightly closed if no current is applied to it.