Leak, Bang and Clunk - help!

Manny7

Hi All,



We moved into a new home 6 months ago. This winter was the first time we have used our gas/steam furnace. It has been working perfectly until yesterday. Coincidentally we had to have our water heater replaced on Dec 21st. Since this was replaced we did test the furnace and it worked but did not keep in on long as it has been warm in the New Jersey area until yesterday.



We have a Weil Mclain boiler model eg 40, it has an automatic feeder made model uni-match. I see water in the sigh glass as normal but now when i turn it on the water gets used by in about 30 mins after i turn it on, during this period there are loud bang/clunking noises coming from some of the pipes and then the system leaks at the overflow pipe in our basement.



When the water in the boiler gets low it the LWCO kicks in fine, stops the boiler and the automatic feeder starts to fill the boiler with water. It repeats this cycle. We have 9 rads in our house of which 2 are now not heating up.



If we continue to leave the boiler on the leak looks like it spreads to some of the rads. I think because too much water is built up in the pipes.



Having read many posts yesterday i think that water is not getting back to the boiler. Before looking at the sight glass the water level would always stay between 1/4 and 1/2 full.



Any help would be much appreciated.



Thanks

nicholas bonham-carter

Noisy and thirsty

What is the pressure of the boiler, when running?

How old is the boiler?

What is the overflow pipe of which you speak?

Pictures are always helpful-can you post some of the boiler and it's supply piping?--NBC

Manny7

Its an old boiler but.....

Thanks NBC



The boiler is about 20 years old. I've actually never seen the pressure gauge move when it was working fine or now. It is always on zero.



The boiler is in the basement at one end and the overflow pipe at the other end of the basement it is connected to one of the iron pipes which feeds into the rads.



I will certainly post pics when i get home today.

Manny7

By the way....

I always tried yesterday to take the air valve of one of the rads to see if water was coming out. Water came out in bursts for a minute or so, then just steam kept coming out. I had read that water should come out but steam kept coming out of the rad a tried. This rad was heating up but then was leaking a little at the control valve.

Jamie Hall

Would I be correct

in saying that your first post suggests that the boiler worked before the water heater was replaced, but has been misbehaving afterwards?



If so, the obvious question is what, besides the water heater, was changed?



A few comments, though.  First, the boiler should not actually use any water.  The water is turned to steam in the boiler.  The steam goes to the radiators and condenses -- turns back into water -- and that water should then return to the boiler.  Clearly something is keeping the water from returning -- you are correct in that comment.



Second, water should never get to the radiators.  You comment in your third post that you took a vent off one of the radiators, and water came out.  If it was just a little, OK, but if it was any quantity, not so good.  What should happen is that at first air should come out, then steam -- and I might point out that the steam could burn you rather badly, so you should proceed with great caution and be ready to turn the boiler off.



You also mention in that post that this radiator was leaking a little at the control valve.  It shouldn't...



The clunking and banging is water in the lines where it shouldn't be.



So... we go back to the beginning.  What has changed since the last time the system worked properly, if it ever did?



Also -- along with NBC, I'm curious.  What is that overflow pipe to which you refer?

Manny7

pictures and more info.......

Thanks for your comments Jamie.



I've added some pictures below, let me know if any more would be helpful. The system has been working fine for the past couple of months.



I just had a plumber around from the company which installed the water heater. He seemed and took a look. We turned the heating on and like yesterday (although i did not mention this earlier) the rads on the right side of the house between floors 1 to 3 came on. The rads on the left side did not.



He traced the pipes in the basement to and from the boiler (steam pipes and water return pipes) and found that the pipes were not getting warm on the left side. He believes the return pipe is blocked somewhere (pic below on where he thinks it is) and says it would cost $1000 to cut out the pipe, clear the block and replace it. Although they cannot get someone for two weeks. We need it fixed asap.



Any thoughts on if this could be accurate and if there is anything i could do myself to try and solve the issue?



In regards to what else changed i don't think anything else has but find it coincidental that this issue happen soon after the water heater was replaced.



Boiler -Pics



http://picpaste.com/photo_1-XlGXfeI4.JPG



http://picpaste.com/photo_2-XqvNx4RC.JPG



http://picpaste.com/photo_3-u3cM84xP.JPG



Return Pipe



http://picpaste.com/photo_4-PoLXxBrZ.JPG



Overflow Pipe



http://picpaste.com/photo-EQkpuDOe.JPG

nicholas bonham-carter

Excessive water in the system

Take the cover off that "overflow", which I believe is the main vent, and see what type it is. Chances are it has failed, and needs to be replaced with a Gorton 2, if you can find one.

See if there is a valve to the auto feeder which can be closed off for a few days while you observe this problem. The piping on the boiler is not done according to the installation instructions, and is probably throwing a lot of water up into the system, instead of producing dry steam.--NBC

JStar

Water

Methinks there is a lack of "A Dimension" here.



Is the plumber going to replace the return exactly the way it is now? Can you measure how high the normal water level is at the boiler, and how high that return pipe is?

nicholas bonham-carter

Water level problems

Measure the height of that return pipe in the picture, and then also give us the height of the boiler waterline off the same floor.--NBC

bill nye_3

water feeder

I would shut the valve to the water feeder off and establish the correct water level and try that . Have some one check to see if the pigtail is plugged at the pressuretrol, also what is the pressure set at?



Is that a "Dresser" coupling on the gas main? Is that legal? I am not so much a gas guy so it just doesn't look right.



The pipe with the towel is probably an air vent, and no, water should not be coming from there.

Manny7

Discovered the problem to be a.....

clogged return pipe. After several hours on Friday with the help of a plumber we unblocked the return pipe and the system is back up and running. The plumber also changed the the main air vent as suggested by nbc, which i thought was a overflow for water! He also added a new vavle so we can islotae the return pipe better when it needs to be flushed out.

Learnt a heck of a lot about these systems.

Thanks for all who sent in replies.