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Water level puzzle

mahoney
mahoney Member Posts: 13
in Strictly Steam
Hello,
Very cold here in the Northeast this AM.
Heat is fine, but a routine check of the boiler gave me an never before seen surprise.
Boiler had cycled off but was still hot. water was halfway up the site glass. went to flush the low water cut off,
nothing came out but a dribble. same for the boiler drain.
I was stumped. i added water slowly and not sure of the accuracy of the site glass, opened the pressure relief valve.
after a bit I got water out of the relief valve. water was normal in both low water cut off and drain. site glass seems to be operating normal. I tested the function of the low water cut off and it deem to be normal.
Could my problem be this?
https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/why-water-might-leave-a-steam-boiler/

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,525
    The water may not have left -- you may have had a vacuum in the system which could keep the water from coming out.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • mahoney
    mahoney Member Posts: 13
    Thanks. Interesting, had not though of that, and never encountered that before. Probably just hit it at the exact right time.
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    Make sure the pigtail that the Pressuretrol is mounted on is not clogged and make sure the Pressuretrol is working. I had that happen a few years ago and what was happening was the boiler was short cycling for so long on a very cold night that it did actually create a vacuum in the boiler. It's a scary thing when you do a blow down and nothing!

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