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Steam Boiler Cleaner

hmulter
hmulter Member Posts: 7
in Strictly Steam
I have a Weil Mclain 680 boiler we just installed. The water is very dirty even though all returns and wet pipes there were replaced. All boiler piping is by the book. Old Burnaham maybe 25 years old we removed was not surging. Boiler surges terrible. We will re-skim the boiler. Any suggestions for a cleaner? Almost looks to me like my techs may have had some thread cutting oil in piping when they replaced lower end of Hartford loop and the wet portion of returns. Water was very black when I opened pipe at top of MM low water cut off on top of boiler. Water clear in site glass. Burner is spec Carlin 201.

Comments

  • SWEI
    SWEI Member Posts: 7,356
    Have heard some good things about

    Rhomar 9150 http://www.rhomarwater.com/products/residential-steam-system/
  • nicholas bonham-carter
    nicholas bonham-carter Member Posts: 8,578
    Cleaning the new boiler

    We used Arm&Hammer washing soda, and skimmed several times, a few hours each time.--NBC
  • Dave in QCA
    Dave in QCA Member Posts: 1,788
    skim skim skim

    I installed a WM 680 last December. Water line was steady for a couple days, then foaming caused the water line to surge to the extent that it tripped the manual reset lwco. I skimmed it slow for a couple hours. This corrected the problem for a couple days, then it recurred. More skimming corrected the foaming. All in all, I skimmed it a couple for an hour or two probably 10 or more times. Finally, I also emptied the boiler, let it cool for a couple hours and then very slowly filled it and fired. Water line stayed pretty stable, moving up and down 1" or less.



    You will like your boiler!
    Dave in Quad Cities, America
    Weil-McLain 680 with Riello 2-stage burner, December 2012. Firing rate=375MBH Low, 690MBH Hi.
    System = Early Dunham 2-pipe Vacuo-Vapor (inlet and outlet both at bottom of radiators) Traps are Dunham #2 rebuilt w. Barnes-Jones Cage Units, Dunham-Bush 1E, Mepco 1E, and Armstrong TS-2. All valves haveTunstall orifices sized at 8 oz.
    Current connected load EDR= 1,259 sq ft, Original system EDR = 2,100 sq ft Vaporstat, 13 oz cutout, 4 oz cutin - Temp. control Tekmar 279.
    http://grandviewdavenport.com
  • steamfitter
    steamfitter Member Posts: 156
    cleaning steam boiler water

    I don't have experience cleaning boiler water but I thought I might mention two items from Holohan's books. One is that a cleaner called MEX ( a newer, safer cleaner similar to TSP, tri-sodium phosphate) has had claims of doing a fine job at cleaning water in a steam boiler. The other is that skimming and other methods requires patience and persistence that most contractors lack because, after all, time is money. A good cleaning job, in regards to skimming may take an entire day.
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