Normal water level defined

ToddB

This may be a stupid question, but my understanding is that the normal water level is meant to be maintained when the system is "cold". But how is cold defined? Does it mean that all pipes are cold? For example, my system is typically cycling hourly, running for 18 minutes and off for 42 minutes. Would this 42 minutes be sufficient to let the system return to the cold state and a normal water level, or could I expect a small drop in water level to be seen (1/8" to 1/4")? Even with this small drop in water level the boiler water level drops about 2.5" to 3" when fully steaming at the end of the running cycle, in accordance with the manufacturer's guidelines. Thank you.

ChrisJ

NWL

I'm not a pro but to me the NWL will not change much whether the boiler is 50F or 190F as long as all of the condensate has returned back from the system.  I would feel safe to say the level should be stable on any system 10-15 minutes after the burners shut off.



I also do not feel the NWL is that crucial as in if you are 1/8" off in either direction nothing is going to care.   I fill my boiler, slowly when convenient and when I know its about to turn on, once I am happy with the level I fire it up and let it heat the house for a good 15-20 minutes minimum.  This drives the dissolved gases out of the water an ensures no damage to the boiler block.  Don't overfill too much though as I recently learned going around 3/4" of an inch above my NWL the water level seemed noticeably more violent and I'm sure it was producing wetter steam than normal.



Keep in mind different boilers have slightly different NWLs.  For example my Weil-Mclain calls for 1/2 way up the gauge glass but many if not all Burnhams's call for 3/4's up.

ToddB

I am finding..

that it takes about 22 to 25 minutes for all of the condensate to return to my boiler, and sometimes not all returns (1/8" to 1/4" mentioned, but this varies per frequency of running. I am very careful about maintaining the water level and run the boiler immediately after adding any make up. I usually add after flushing dirty water on a weekly basis. I do not have a water feeder.



Would you think that it is a problem if I were losing 1/8" to 1/4" water per week? I have found that 1/8" is about 3/4 of a cup. I have not found any leaks, my vents are new (mains and rads are all 1 to 2 years old), my wet return is fully exposed, and I have not seen any white smoke exhausting from the chimney. One issue I have noticed is that my main vents that are installed on antlers have gurgled upon closing. I wondered if I was losing steam through these vents. I posted about this when I installed them, but was told that the Gorton 1 can do this.

ChrisJ

Not sure

Would like someone else to chime in at this point.

My system went two months without needing water added from Nov-Dec but I finally added before leaving for the new year.  I was around 1/4" down at that point.



22-25 minutes seems long to me, but maybe thats possible if the radiators are taking time to condense the steam I don't know.

BobC

Look for a change

My boiler is down about 1/4" over 45 days, this is about what I had with the old boiler. I've always thought the thing to look out for was a change in the water consumption, if it starts to use twice as much water for the same time and run time I'd get very concerned.



Bob

ToddB

Changes

The only significant change that I made last season was the installation of three new Gorton 1 vents on each main. The new vents made really no difference in system performance - I am running at about one ounce of pressure and the run time and frequency is the same. Water loss over time is also about the same this season. I have noticed that the main vents did/do gurgle when closing. I will remove the antlers and check them for water. I wonder if I could be losing some steam from the main vents?