Burnham Boiler issues

Megamega

Hi all and thanks in advance for your help.



I have a Burnham boiler and a steam system. Recently the pipes have been making a banging sound, so I went to flush the water from the boiler. It was pretty dark, but no matter how much water I flushed, the water gauge still seems to be full! I was afraid to fully flush the boiler, but did until the water was trickling out slowly. I have a low water cutoff and an automatic water feed, but the cutoff did not kick in and the water feed didnt either. I can't figure out why.



The only thing I can think of is that the basement is not steam heat, but forced hot water, so perhaps water is filling from those pipes. In the below picture, you can see the taco pump for the basement steam at the bottom. I have been flushing water using the red valve right above that on the side of the boiler. the automatic water feed is just out of the picture on the top.



I've also attached a picture of the pressure and water gauges and the low water cutoff.



I'm very new to all this so any help you can provide would be great. It's winter here in NY so I am hesitant to take risks in diagnosing without your expert advice! Thanks!

nicholas bonham-carter

Steam novice

Is this a 1-pipe or 2-pipe system?

Why not order the steamy deal steam books from the shop here, to become better acquainted with steam, and your hot water loop.

If there. Is a pro listed in your area, he could give you some pointers on general maintenance while he investigates your system.

Don't do too much draining without greater knowledge as you do not want the hot water loop to become air bound.

As far as water-hammer in the system, tell us if it is in the radiators, or basement pipes.

Is your pressure gauge working, and if so what is the pressure as

Free the system has been running a while?--NBC

BobC

Closed or blocked valve?

Make sure the valves above and below the sight glass are open (fully CCW) so they can "see" the boiler water level. If they are both open then something is blocked and you have to find out what it is and fix it. It's very important to know the water level on a steam boiler.



Did you see what pressure the boiler was operating at when making steam?



Bob