Boiler installed wrong

Seth Rothenberg

My neighbor was telling my wife about her banging radiators and leaking pipes.

My wife said "Well, my husband can help, he has a book called

The Lost Art of Steam Heating!



I am not a plumber, but with Dan's book, I "own" my steam system.



I have a plan for helping neighbor with the hammer but did not even get to it...

As I guessed, the water was coming from 2 main vents in the basement....

the boiler was full up to the first floor vents. I took out about 50 gallons of water.



Then I tried to find the right height, but the sight glass was dirty.

I have a trick for cleaning it using the sight glass drain and some ammonia,

but the sight glass was installed upside down, and I don't think allowing

the ammonia into the boiler is a good idea....



So, when time permits, I'll pull the sight glass and exchange the top and

bottom valves, so we can actually drain and clean it.

With my slippery fingers, I didn't do it on a Sunday when suppliers are closed.



I was able to find the right height without the glass by putting a hose on the drain,

because the water line in the hose matches the water line in the boiler.



Then I noticed that there really is no blow-down. The cold water feed comes down

into a Tee that goes into the wet return with a manual valve and to a hose bib.

What that meant for me is opening the drain and the valve will not clean the boiler.



So, this boiler probably was never cleaned.

I didn't even try to measure "A" etc. yet.



All the near-boiler piping is copper, the rest of the house is old cast-iron.



I can see telling the homeowner to wait till spring for a major change, but

I'd appreciate tips what to tell them a) until spring and b) what to change in

the spring?



Change the near-boiler piping to have a blow-down?

Change all the near-boiler piping to cast iron?



BTW, I was surprised to see that all the supply lines also serve

as returns. There's one tight loop. And I am not happy with one

section that looks really close to level. Did not look to see if the

hangers are adjustable, because the temp is 21 degrees out there,

so I'm not about to change them. This is their second season

with the boiler.



Oh, and I know they need new vents all around,

because they need to fill twice a week.

Oh, and the local utility gave them a free setback TSTAT

recently. I'''ll have to check if it needs to be set for use on steam.

I also need to check - I think it's 24V based on the electronic

Low Water Cutoff.



Tips appreciated....Including if the tip is I should teach them

enough to tell a licensed plumber specifically what needs to be

changed just to properly maintain the system.



This is in Passaic, NJ



Thanks!



PS I know there are lots of questions or things I don't know yet,

but I hope they give an idea what I do know about this house.

bill_105

seth

You must be a set up man. There is comedy stuff here. Love life baby!

Hap_Hazzard

Pictures?

You should know by now that we love pictures, especially pictures of "unique", "creative" piping jobs. :-)

JStar

Steam

The copper needs to go. We always finish a repiping job in one day to get the heat back up, so people don't have to wait until spring to fix their problems.



Sounds like a water feed is leaking, too.

Seth Rothenberg

Leak

JStar,

Thanks. That would explain the full boiler,

because I could not believe this homeowner

was hallucinating.



I took pictures, but didn't get them posted yet.



Do any friends of Dan's have a coverage area in Passaic County, NJ?

Hap_Hazzard

Well, there's this company called ecuacool in Metuchen

Joe, you're not far from Passaic, are you?



Seth, you can click the link in Joe's post to find his contact and company info. He's posted pictures of some of his work here and it's top notch.

JStar

Steam

I sent you an email. If you don't get it, you can find my info in my signature.