Residential steam boiler water feed ad

robert borders

Jan 23 2014

Have an out of state landlord with alot of properties in our town. In one particular large 2 story rental he has a steam boiler of which he has to add water once a week. there are no apparent water leaks. when i was there today, i could hear several of the radiators blowing out steam from the vents??

Have been in the trade many years but steam is still not my expertise. i think i recognized a #47 low water cut out with a valve on it to blow it off.

did some looking around knowing that mcdonnel miller seams to have cornered the market on steam low water cut outs + feeders. Which one(s) to you recommend to use + which ones should i avoid? how does the water feeder know when to add water. Obviously there are 120Volt + 24 Volt units. Since a #47 looks to be a manual low water cut out, how do i wire a new feeder in and while i am here, how is the feeder piped? flying out for the week end to see a son i havent been around with for a long time so dont have time to make an error then work around that to a correct solution. I know you guys know your stuff. Let me pick your brain + expertise. please. thank you Bob Borders Bob's Htg west point ia 52656

nicholas bonham-carter

Auto/over-fill

These devices are the work of the Devil, when used as a bandaid to mask a problem instead of solving it. You may find more problems on your return if the underlying problem is not corrected, such as a system filled with water up to the second floor

Vents should never blow steam! There is an over-pressure problem here which must be fixed. Take the pressuretrol off, and clean the pigtail, and it's connection to the boiler. Find a good low-pressure gauge, (0-3 psi, Valworx.com) and put it next to the useless but required 0-30 psi gauge, on the same pigtail as the pressurtrol.

This pressure may have been turned up to correct for bad main venting, so change those out for Gorton 2's on each dry return (more than one may be needed)--NBC

Get the steam books from the shop here, and read them on your next trip. The owner will enjoy smaller fuel bills when you have been through the system!

Hap_Hazzard

A water feeder is a safety device.

They're intended to prevent a no-heat condition if a leak develops, long enough to allow you to find and fix the leak. If they are activated on a regular basis, they will fail to close and flood the boiler, ironically causing a no-heat condition with water-filled pipes to freeze and break.



Not only that, but since the LWCO doesn't activate the water feeder unless the water level is dangerously low, you are letting the water level get dangerously low over and over again. This will do serious damage to a boiler that expects to have a relatively stable water level, with regions of the vessel that are used to boiling heat exposed to flame heat, and the constant fluctuation in water level means the stress patterns keep changing, fatiguing the cast iron, and cast iron doesn't like that. What's the least flexible metal you can think of?



A water feeder is a good insurance policy if used correctly, but think of it as you would a fire extinguisher: you hope you never have to use it.



Hydrolevel makes one with a built-in water meter. I installed one three years ago. The meter still reads "000." The only water it has ever fed has been during its annual pre-season tests.