water introduced to boiler???

PaulN

Disclaimer. I am no expert and have paid several to look at this but cant figure it out.



Its a boiler serving 19 large 3/4 bedroom apartments and we have been having problems with overfilling. Checked the feeder and seem to have no issues there. So we went one more step and closed all the valves feeding the water feeder. Still overfilling.



So question 1: as I understand there is no other place from where new water can enter system? I inspected all around and all piping leading to boiler and found no other feed except offcourse the return.



Question 2: the return lines are below boiler, they all connect at a pump which then pumps the water to the boiler. I am not sure what mechanism calls the pump for water, but it goes on and off quite often. There is no water feed at pump except returns. Where could water be coming from? Could be that there is just so much water in the system behind the pump that it overfilled to such an extent there is a lot of draining to do?



Thanks.

JStar

Water

Well, it has to be coming from somewhere.



Sometimes, old valves can leak past, even if they are closed.



Is there any type of water coil in the boiler for domestic use?

nicholas bonham-carter

too much water

does the boiler make any hot water? there could be a leak somewhere there which constantly overfills the boiler.

this is the time, with somewhat mild weather to turn off the boiler, and any auto-feeder, and mark the level with a clothespin on the rods of the sight glass. check 8 hours later to see if there has been any raising of the level.--nbc

PaulN

no water coil

The boiler only makes steam. I see no water coil nor any hot water piping exiting the boiler. Not sure if it could be found somewhere else along the lines, but not sure how that would ever work.

PaulN

deosnt make hot water as I see

It only makes steam as I see. No hot water pipe exiting the boiler. Unless its somewhere further down the line i dont think there is anything but steam created.



Will try that. Shut everything off and see if the water is just leaking in. I get the exercise.

PaulN

system drawing

I put together a little drawing of what the system looks like from what i can see. The vertical orientation of the various components is to accurate, trap above boiler, pump at ground level, feeder level and etc.



Thanks for your help

PaulN

just one thing

steam does not go straight to 3rd floor but exits throughout blg at first and etc.