Steam radiators leaking water

Charity

I have a Burnham Steam Boiler that is a few years old. Recently the automatic water feeder malfunctioned, flooding the system with water. We have turned off the water valve and now are filling the boiler manually. I am afraid we might have a second issue as we are still having water bleed through the downstairs radiators. It seems to me that the boiler may be malfunctioning too.



This is the third issue we've had this year after years of worry free heating. Would appreciate ideas on what is happening.

BobC

Water problems

The water on the sight glass should be about halfway up the glass, if you can't see the waterline you might have to much water in the system. Has anyone been called in to look at the system and is it possible the closed the valves around the sight glass?



Bob

bustoff315

Leak?

Where exactly is the water coming out of the radiators and how often are you manually filling the boiler?

Charity

Steam radiators leaking water

The water on the sight glass is at about 3/4 right now. We actually ran out of water last night and had to refill it this morning. It's very cold (was -3 this morning) so I think we are using more water than normal because last week I only had to fill the boiler with water once.



The water is leaking from the nut where the radiator attaches. One radiator has one pipe, the other has two. These are the radiators in closest proximity to the boiler.



This is a new issue that only started this fall. At first we just noticed that the system was more gurgly and then right when the polar vortex hit our system started to spurt water everywhere, out radiators and out a release valve in the basement. That's when we called our repair guy and he suggested that it might be the auto water feeder. We turned off the water valve, drained the excess water from the system and it was all running fine until it got super cold again.



One other note. Our city did some sort of maintenance to our local water tower in the fall. When they did this, they drained the tower in our neighborhood and our water pressure got really low. We actually have a water pressurizer tank and whatever the city did broke it. I have a theory that this is also what damaged the boiler.

BobC

clean and retighten

Have you tried tightening the nuts? If your sure it's leaking at the nuts and tightening doesn't work the joint may have to taken apart and cleaned. Then when things are properly lined up it can be tightened again.



What pressure is the system running at when making steam? You should only have to add water occasionally, if it's more than once a month there may be other leaks you haven't found.



Bob

nicholas bonham-carter

Over pressure

Your pigtail could have become blocked, causing the pressure to skyrocket, and cause the water in the boiler to have been pushed up into the returns.

Disconnect he wiring from the pressuretrol, making notes of the wiring connections, and take it off, with the pigtail. Run water through the pigtail, and reinstall. Check the inlet of the pressuretrol for blockage at the same time. Make sure it is keeping the pressure under 2psi(basic functionality), or under a few ounces (economy, and comfort).--NBC

Charity

Pigtail

That was the first problem we experienced this winter. The technician took it off, we unclogged it and put it back on. The pressure of the boiler appears fine now. It's at 1.



Do you think it could be partially clogged again?

nicholas bonham-carter

The importance of a 0-3 psi gauge.

It's worth a look to see if it has been plugged again.

As far as the union nut on the radiator, tightening it while rocking the radiator slightly will generally reseat the mating faces, and stop the leak. A big adjustable crescent wrench (harbor freight tools.com) is cheap and more effective than a pipe wrench.

Keep a record of how many minutes toy are filling the boiler. Does it ever show itself to be over full? If so you may have slow returns--NBC