2 pipe steam return problems

Talontsi

Problem: The return pipes from the radiator are filling up with too much water and spewing out of the return side Gorton #2 vents on the pipes. I moved the vents up higher and water isn't coming out anymore but it is gurgling very badly. A few of the radiators are banging pretty hard by the Hoffman steam trap the return side.



This only started to happen after I had the boiler man come and he decided to put SURGEX into the boiler.



Before he came everything was completely fine.



I also replaced all of the hot and cold side air vents so everything there is brand new.



Did the SURGEX maybe loosen up gunk in the radiators and clog the Hoffman steam traps? How else can I get the return side to stop filling up with so much water?

nicholas bonham-carter

Boiling over as a result of snake oil

This additive is causing the water to boil erratically, and sending water up into the pipes.

Did he give a reason for adding this to the boiler? Generally speaking, our small residential boilers function best when only pure tap water is inside. There are some regions with bad tap water which may need some chemical intervention (excessive chlorides) but probably that is not your situation.

Have him drain and refill several times to get the system back to normal.--NBC

Talontsi

Surgex

He put the Surgex in because when the boiler is firing the water in the sight glass bounces around a lot and goes down about 3 inches from the designated fill line. He said it would stop the surging.

nicholas bonham-carter

Strong medicine

I suspect your (Hoffman) vapor system to be at too high a pressure, causing the water in the boiler to back up into the returns.

Get a vaporstat, and 0-3 psi gauge, and set it to 8 ounces max.--NBC

Talontsi

system pics

I know nothing about steam really, I'll will call a pro in to set this thing up right. The last 2 pics are with the system off and a second after a cycle where the pressuretrol cut the system off. You can see the internal syphon gage and the sight glass. It goes to about 4.5psi in the boilers gage right before it shuts off

Talontsi

system pics

Jamie Hall

Oh dear...

First off, you will need to drain that poor boiler and rinse it and get the Surgex out.  As NBC says, except in very very rare instances water treatment of any kind is not recommended for residential type boilers.



Second, either that near boiler piping is a catastrophe or I need new glasses.



Third, if this is indeed a Hoffman equipped system, you need to have a vapourstat to control the pressure to no more than 12 ounces cutoff.



The Surgex probably didn't damage the traps directly.  It doesn't get carried along with the steam, after all.  It is quite possible, however, that a combination of the excess pressure and the water hammer has killed at least some of them.  You will need to check all of them for proper operation.

Talontsi

radiators

Every radiator in the house looks like this but in various sizes. There are 15 of them.