Help Am I draining boiler correctly

agatha

My one step away from a nervous breakdown down started when I couldn't quite detect if the water in the site glass on my boiler was too high or far too low. Using a piece of paper with letters on it, and placing the paper behind the site glass, the letters appeared to magnify. I took this to imply there is in fact water in the site glass and too much water at that I then began the draining process. One. Two..five buckets later and no noticeable drop of water in the site glass. Terrified of doing damage I turned the burner switch off and here I sit in a total state of panic. Is it unusual to remove five buckets ( household mop bucket size) and not see a decrease in the level of water in site glass? Did I do damage by draining water when the burner was not running (with burner switch on)? Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated....PS boiler is five years old thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

BobC

That is a lot of water but it all depends on the size of your system and how much water the pipes can hold before water starts leaking out of the vents.

Are you sure water isn't being fed into the boiler? Feel the water feed pipe near the boiler, if it is cold water is being fed into the boiler, could be a bad valve seat.

Bob

Also are you sure the valves on the sight glass gave not been tampered with? They should both be fully open.

Fred

Yes, that is unusual, under normal operating conditions. If you have an auto water feeder on the boiler, turn it off immediately. It may have failed open and letting water into your boiler. If it is allowed to continue to run, it will over-fill until the water starts to flow out of your vents and radiators. If you have a how water coil on that boiler that also supplies hot water for your home, shut it down also. The coil, in the boiler may have sprung a leak. Continue to drain water out of the boiler until you get down to the normal water level and then turn the Hot water coil back on (if you have one) and watch to see if the boiler starts to over-fill again. If not, the problem is in the auto water feeder for the boiler. Leave it off until you can get it replaced.

Jamie Hall

Relax. Take a deep breath. Or two.

You've done the right thing by turning the boiler off with it's power switch. No harm will come to a boiler -- over full or empty or somewhere in between -- provided it isn't fired.

Now, having gotten this far! Go down and find all the pipes which feed water into the boiler. There may be just one. If you're hot water is made by the boiler and not an independent water heater, there will be three. There should be valves on all of them. Close those valves.

Now you can drain the boiler right down to nothing if you want to, and no harm will be done. However, you should -- at some point! -- see a water line in the sight glass. Before you start draining, though, as BobC said, there should be little valves at the top and bottom of the sight glass. Make sure they are open -- "lefty loosey". If you are really fortunate, there may also be a try valve -- a small drain valve at the bottom of the sight glass. If there is, open it and see if water comes out. If the sight glass valves are open, and there is water in the boiler, it should come out there. If you have such a critter, and it doesn't drain, the pipes from the boiler to the sight glass may be clogged.

Keep calm... and report back!

agatha

Oh my gosh you are all so phenomenal for responding so quickly and helping out here!! Backpedaling a second I neglected to say what prompted me to evil Mr Boiler was the fact my hot water wasn't so hot ( I don't have a separate hot water heater) After draining three buckets of water from boiler hot water returned...at this point I wasn't able to decipher if there was water in site glass.Fast forward to now.... I have an automatic feeder shut off thingy that read (prior to shutting down burner at emergency switch) 113. Looking at boiler there is one pipe that literally goes into the boiler and that pipe now feels warm and the other pipe that feeds into the pipe that goes into the boiler is cold. And if this makes any sense..now that the system is shut down I see a slight decrease in the amount of water in the site glass. As far as tampering..
Last year I had the burner cleaned and the service man told me all was working well and showed me how to drain boiler I flushed the boiler so to speak a few months ago and all has been fine until the lack of hot water which appears to have been rectified...
Sigh now this too much water in site glass issue
I an beyond terrified to touch a single thing on evil Mr Boiler and praying that the drop of water level in site glass may indicate that I just need to continue drain the boiler? Oh and if it's significant to my problem I am not running any heat as it's still warm in my area thank you all so very much ...your help is so greatly appreciated

RobG

Can you post some pictures of the boiler from different angles so that we can see all of the piping?

Fred

Also, remember, something caused that boiler to over-fill. Have someone check the Auto Water feeder AND the Hot water heating coil. Something has failed. Keep a close eye on the boiler water level until you get a service person out. You don't want it to over fill to a point where water floods out of the vents. Also, it's not an evil Mr. Boiler. They are the best thing since sliced bread, once you make friends with it! Keep us posted.

agatha

With the dawn of a new day and the burner emergency switch left off all night, the water in site glass is at the correct level. However I am uncertain as to exactly what to do next
Photos to follow

agatha

I hope the following photos are helpful

agatha

Second photo

agatha

Third

agatha

Fourth

agatha

And last but not least

Fred

Not that it is related to your current issue but That header (pipe that goes across the top of your boiler is tilted the wrong direction. It should be pitched towards the pipe that goes down to the bottom of the boiler.

Back to your current issue, as I indicated in my earlier post, get a serviceman/woman out there to make sure the Hot Water coil and Auto water feeder are not leaking water into the boiler.

Abracadabra

@Fred i think the photo might be tilted. Look at the bottom of the jacket of the boiler. It's got about the same pitch.

Fred

@Abracadabra , I think you're right. @agatha , Never mind on the Header comment I made, above.

agatha

Seventeen minutes ago I turned on the emergency burner switch I then turned on the hot water kitchen faucet. Within a few minutes I heard burner kick on and ran down to do a check (and tell the boiler he looked exceptionally handsome today). Auto water feeder read 115 and water in site glass moved a " baby bit" used hot water for about eight minutes and then dashed back to boiler. No change in water level or reading on auto water feeder I will continue to tell Mr Boiler how handsome he is at thirty minute intervals.....again you are all the best and

agatha

It's worth repeating...you are all so phenomenal!!!!Thank you so much!!! Currently there has been no change in water level at site glass. However well pointed out...there is a reason water level rose in site glass to begin with which leads me to may next question...OK...make that questions..for future reference purposes, the next time I "backwash" the boiler, does it matter if the boiler is running when I drain the water? Now unfortunately for me steam heat service people are few and far in my area. However those who claim they can service the boiler are plentiful. Any pointers on how to go about finding a reputable service person. Again my deepest gratitude to everyone that has saved me from a nervous breakdown!!

RobG

Where are you located?

Fred

The boiler should be off when you do any flushing and you should make sure the water is cool enough that you don't scald yourself during the flushing process (should you have an accident with the bucket or whatever).

agatha

Again thank you all for replying I am out on Wrong Island...officially known as long island new York. And I will be sure to remember system shut down when back washing thank you!!!!