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Excessive Condensation

lazytranchinc
lazytranchinc Member Posts: 1
in Gas Heating
I have a Lochinvar Knight Model # WHN110 and have recently noticed a musty smell in my house. Looked in on my boiler and all the pipes have condensation on them. Opened up the crawl space under my house and it is soaking wet. All the floor joists are saturated and mold growing everywhere. This has never happened before. What is going on?

Comments

  • kcopp
    kcopp Member Posts: 4,472
    IS the boiler being vented properly?
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,274
    Did all pipes near the boiler have condensation on them or just your cold water supply?
  • PM Home and Cabin Services
    PM Home and Cabin Services Member Posts: 23
    A leak from a heating pipe in crawlspace? Check boiler psi and feeder system.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,274
    You could be leaking boiler water and the water fill valve is compensating for this; this would be the reason the cold supply is sweating. If you do not have a low water cut off you need to monitor the pressure if you shut off the cold water supply to boiler. It sounds like the boiler in not at the lower level of piping and radiation; this could run the boiler into dry firing. Not a safe condition at all!!
  • Jack
    Jack Member Posts: 1,048
    You might want to look into a Tjernlund crawl space ventilator
  • wcs5050
    wcs5050 Member Posts: 131
    That is really bad. If carbon monoxide detector didn't go off then venting must be intact. You say you opened up crawlspace leading me to think it is subject to freezing. May be a pinhole or joint leak is letting out heated water making a jungle environment. Close water feed. If gauge pressure drops to 0 psi then there is a leak. Boiler pressure safety switch will then not allow boiler to fire. Can you isolate that zone? Do so if possible.
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    I will add where is the condensate going? Is that backing up into the crawl space.
  • wcs5050
    wcs5050 Member Posts: 131
    edited January 2015
    Didnt consider that. See it all the time too. Good one Gordy. Wonder what he finds.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,274
    Sometimes pressure relief valves are piped thru floor into crawl space; not only boiler but also DHW tanks. And they could open and reseat unnoticed.
    Several sources of humidity are available.
  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
    Some pictures would help. And never mention the word mold.
    jonny88
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,274
    edited January 2015
    Lawyers current mantra: Lead is dead...The new gold is mold.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,502
    I know they all aren't bad but the world would be a better place if most of them were otherwise occupied.

    Almost 30 years ago we had a group of high school kids that came into the plant every day at 2PM. We used them on the line and in the machine shop, they were all good kids and willing to learn. I worked with one of them for a while and we talked on and off about what he wanted to do for a living.

    He mentioned he was thinking about becoming a lawyer (he was certainly bright enough) and I told him to think about weather the world really needed another lawyer. He took the exam and went to the USAF Academy. He was flying C130's into Iraq during desert storm and went to work for one of the airlines when he got out.

    At least I did one good thing in my time here.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
    Gordy
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    It must be a frame of mind. I could never defend anyone that was guilty. No matter how much money was involved. I guess they must convince themselves they actually are innocent.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,274
    All the lawyer talk must have scared him off...it has been about 24 hours since he posted.
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    And by the way Bob thanks.
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    edited January 2015
    JUGHNE said:

    All the lawyer talk must have scared him off...it has been about 24 hours since he posted.


    Well......... sounded like a mess. Bleach, dehumidifiers, cause of it all. Never hurts to routinely check those out of the way places we never go in the home.
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    lazytranchinc said:

    I have a Lochinvar Knight Model # WHN110 and have recently noticed a musty smell in my house. Looked in on my boiler and all the pipes have condensation on them. Opened up the crawl space under my house and it is soaking wet. All the floor joists are saturated and mold growing everywhere. This has never happened before. What is going on?

    I can't think of a time that I found those conditions under a house that there wasn't a hot water pipe that was spraying water inside the crawl space. Usually from some pipe freezing and breaking/leaking.

    And this time of year fits right into the scenario.
  • Gordy
    Gordy Member Posts: 9,546
    That's all I can think of unless the exhaust vent is going full tilt inside the crawl space. Or condensate running wild.
  • wcs5050
    wcs5050 Member Posts: 131
    Was on a job doing stuff around a mod/con I had done years before, and started freaking when I saw steam/moisture everywhere. Immediately thought/knew venting was damaged. Then I figured out the homeowner was upstairs messing with the dryer vent and it was blowing in the wall, into mechanical room. Phewww.
    kcopp
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    wcs5050 said:

    Was on a job doing stuff around a mod/con I had done years before, and started freaking when I saw steam/moisture everywhere. Immediately thought/knew venting was damaged. Then I figured out the homeowner was upstairs messing with the dryer vent and it was blowing in the wall, into mechanical room. Phewww.

    That, or someone chopped a hole in the floor under the dryer and ran one of those white plastic dryer vent hoses (2 or 3 of them) and connected them to an outside dryer vent. With age, the plastic gets brittle and the vent breaks. Spewing lint and moisture all over the crawl space. All the cob webs and pipes are covered in lint. If you try to solder anything, you might have one of those spinning mill explosions. Like the one that ended the production of Polartech fleece winter clothing in Malden, MA.

    But it didn't make it rain in the crawl space.

    As far as a disconnected vent, that's why I purchased my own personal CO detector. It could save your life.

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