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Surging - Firing Rate

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Eagle1017
Eagle1017 Member Posts: 42
in Strictly Steam
Hi - I've got a new gas fired burham boiler with single zone steam system. I've been dealing with issues since installation. I'll be doing a second round of skimming over the next few days but also read that the firing rate could be causing the surging / rapid loss of water from boiler. How do I lower the firing rate?

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  • Mark N
    Mark N Member Posts: 1,115
    edited March 2015
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    Have you clocked the gas meter with only the boiler firing to determine the firing rate, It is in the Burnham manual how to do it.
    Eagle1017
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    Mark N said:

    Have you clocked the gas meter with only the boiler firing to determine the firing rate, It is in the Burnham manual how to do it.

    Stupid question:

    I understand the concept of clocking a gas meter. What I don't understand or never see mentioned is how do you do it accurately if you aren't measuring the gas pressure at the appliance gas valve to see if it is fluctuating.

    Eagle1017
  • Eagle1017
    Eagle1017 Member Posts: 42
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    I'm less interested in determining what is currently happening and just trying to lower the rate and see if that helps. How do I reduce the firing rate?
  • Mark N
    Mark N Member Posts: 1,115
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    Being that you don't know how to do this and most likely don't have the test equipment needed to do it, please call a professional.
    icesailor
  • Mark N
    Mark N Member Posts: 1,115
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    Also, what is the model number of the boiler and the EDR of the attached radiators? You most likely need to keep skimming.
    icesailor
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    edited March 2015
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    I just mentioned to another poster, with a Burnham Boiler (I have one too) that Burnham boilers, for whatever reason, seem to be SUPER sensitive to oils on the surface of the boiler water. If yours is new, just skim it very slowly and for several hours. It takes several sessions of skimming to get all the oils out. Do one session, let the boiler run a few days/weeks until the water starts to bounce a lot and do it again. Keep doing that until it finally runs like it should and it will.
    Also make sure the Pressuretrol is set right. .5PSI Cut-in and a differential of 1, for a cut-out of 1.5PSI.
    Don't tamper with the firing rate. You can alter almost anything to hide symptoms. That's not what you want to do. It's all in the skimming.
    The rapid loss of water (I assume it returns when the heating cycle is over) is directly related to the surging (Oil on the surface of the water). The steam bubbles can't break the surface of the oil so it ends up pushing the water out through the wet returns.
    icesailor

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