No water comes out from drain valve - Weil Maclain PEG 40

Yong

Hi, I have Weil Maclain PEG 40 steam boiler, and I have 2 questions about it.

1. Whenever I try to drain water from drain valve located on the back side of machine, no water comes out.
Even if I tried to drain water out while the machine was working on last winter, a few drops came out and that was all.
Boiler itself has worked fine through the winter, but I want to make sure if there's any issue with it for this winter coming.
I wonder if this has something to do with the amount of water in the tank of boiler. I have automatic LWCO, and the level of water in gauge glass is about a quarter. Please see attached images.

2. Rusty water has been dropping out from on of the pipe attached to the boiler. I only noticed this by the rusty stain on the floor and rust wrapping around the pipe. Please see attached images called "rustywaterdropping".
Should I call the local contractor to replace this pipe immediately?

This is it. Any assistance on these issues will be appreciated. Thank you.

Fred

The valve is plugged with gunk. Open the valve a stick a piece of wire,(coat hanger will do) into the valve and see if you can open it up. As for the leak, it does look like a fitting on that Hartford loop either needs to be tightened or replaced. I'd get that done before the heating season begins. The boiler looks like it needs to be flushed out and the sight glass cleaned as well.

Yong

Thanks Fred, I'll definitely try to eliminate gunk. When you say "it needs to be flushed out", is there any easy way to do it? or just draining water after eliminating clog of valve will clean the sight glass as well?

Thanks!

STEAM DOCTOR

Ditto to what Fred said. In addition, you can remove the packing nut from the valve and stick a wire hanger in there. Be prepared to catch lots of water. Have buckets ready. Possible that the pipe leading to the valve is clogged. You might want to replace the valve with a ball valve and hose fitting.

Fred

Yong said:

Thanks Fred, I'll definitely try to eliminate gunk. When you say "it needs to be flushed out", is there any easy way to do it? or just draining water after eliminating clog of valve will clean the sight glass as well?

Thanks!

Once you get that valve open, let all the water drain out, close the valve and fill the boiler again. Then open the drian and let it drain again. Do that a couple times. When you refill the boiler for the last time, run the boiler for a few minutes, until it starts to make steam, to burn off any excess oxygen, in the fresh water. That will help minimize any additional corrosion in the boiler. since you have a leak at one of the fittings on that Hartford loop, it might be a good idea to do the flushing and boiler maintenance at the same time you have the leak repaired.

ChrisJ

Once you get the drain clear I'd build a wand and wash the boiler out real well.

I covered some of it in this thread but cannot find my origninal wand thread
http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1379772#Comment_1379772


It doesn't really matter, but are you sure that's a PEG40 and not a PEG45? The drafthood suggests 45.

Yong

STEAM DOCTOR said:

Ditto to what Fred said. In addition, you can remove the packing nut from the valve and stick a wire hanger in there. Be prepared to catch lots of water. Have buckets ready. Possible that the pipe leading to the valve is clogged. You might want to replace the valve with a ball valve and hose fitting.

Thanks!! will try!!

Dave0176

Well the boiler looks like it's never been skimmed as evidence of no skim piping installed in the skim port. So it should really have a 10psi blow down to really clean the crud out of it, and then it should be properly skimmed to remove all pipe cutting and block machining oils. This will provide a more stable water line and you will get much better heat. As far as your leak, as was said earlier it either needs to be tightened or replaced.