Steam Sophomore

jmob77

I'm about to go into my second season as a steam system owner and I'm curious about what I need to do to prepare.

A plumber was in to replace a part on the other system in my two-family house (two-zone hot water), and he felt it was a good idea to have a conditioner put into my steam boiler to help clean it out. Is this really necessary?

Should I have someone clean out my low water cutoff? It's a probe type. How can I be sure it's functioning properly?

Also, should I be draining off a bucket of water on a weekly basis during the cold season?

Many thanks,

John
Brooklyn, NY

Jamie Hall

Ask five of us about conditioners and you will get ten answers. I don't use one, but some of the guys swear by Steammaster. Depends a lot on your water quality and how much, if any, you add -- if you add very litlle, and your water is decent, my view is you don't need it. Your mileage may differ...

Probe type low water cutoffs usually don't need cleaning out, although if it comes out easily (!) there's not much harm to wiping it off. I wouldn't bother. The only safe way to check them is to manually lower the water level in the boiler to the point where it is supposed to cut the burner off -- and see if it does. You can do this at the same time you are draining some of the goop out of the bottom drains! If you are the cautious type (like me) you can lower the water level (to drain the goop out!) with the boiler off, and see if the LWCO keeps the boiler from running.

There is no need to drain a bucket of water from time to time, unless you have a float type LWCO -- which you don't. Those do need to be drained to remove the goop.

ChrisJ

I don't know what type of "conditioner" your plumber was talking about, but I swear by water treatment.

As Jamie said, you'll get many answers regarding this, but my response will continue to be, look at the amount of rotted steamers we see on the forum and keep telling me water treatment isn't necessary. The amount of steamers we see rotted out above the water line and or clogged with minerals is endless. Proper water treatment solves all of this.

I run Steamaster in mine, but when that's gone I may switch to Rhomar 903. The one thing I will never use in my boiler again is plain water.

Fred

The one thing I would clean every year, before the heating season begins is the pigtail (looped pipe) that your Pressuretrol and/or Vaporstat is mounted on. That pigtail will clog with junk and prevent your Pressuretrol/vaporstat from doing it's job of controlling pressure limits. It can even prevent the boiler from firing if it holds pressure. Not a good thing. As for water treatments, If you use anything, use the Steamaster tablets and only use one or two tablets. Don't use the recommended dosing on the bottle instructions. I have waffled back and forth on using anything in my boiler. It's a 34 year old Burnham and I would say half of it's life I have used a treatment and half of it's life, just plain water. I'm not sure it is of significant value, again, depending on the quality of the water in your area. I guess to be safe, a couple Steamaster tablets won't hurt anything.

jmob77

Thanks! If you put Steamster in, how to you get it in there?

Also, a pigtail question: I've been meaning to try cleaning mine, especially because I had some short-cycling going on around the end of last winter. I have a basic sense of how to do it, but I'm squeamish about that pressuretrol, especially because there seems to be no union on the pressuretrol side. How best to unscrew the pigtail from the bottom of the pressuretrol? Will holding the unit in one hand while turning the (detached from boiler side) pigtail with a wrench give me enough torque to unscrew it? Also, I imagine all wiring should remain connected to pressuretrol, as long as it is powered down, yes?

Fred

You should have a skim port. When I use the tablets, I dissolve them in a cup of water and then just use a funnel with a tube on it that I run into the skim port and pour the solution in. Take the Pressuretrol off first. Use a wrench on the hex that mounts it to the pigtail and then use a small pipe wrench to take the pigtail off of the boiler. There are 2 wires that go into the Pressuretrol, take the cover off of the Pressuretrol (screw at bottom center of the front cover) remove the cover and remove the wires. Trying to turn it off without removing the wires will just twist them and possibly break a wire. Clean the pigtail and reverse the process to re-install. Don't be squemish. It's an easy job. Do turn the power off though just to ensure the boiler doesn't fire up while you are working on it.

RomanGK_26986764589

Interesting. My plumber said I did not need any water treatment as my water PH was fine but I still get rusty water at the end of the season...

Jamie Hall

You are going to get rusty water, pretty much no matter what you do. Iron rusts if there is any free oxygen at all, and it doesn't take much to make the water look rusty. And you really don't want to play with the chemicals which scavenge all the free oxygen. Let the folks who work with power boilers worry about that.

Now if it is gobs of sludge, that's another story.

Paul S_3

buy these at AMAF burner control supply in flushing queens nyc.....flush skim etc.....follow instructions
on the bottle you should be fine

jmob77

Re: pigtail cleaning. I've checked it (it's clean) and I'm ready to put it back on. How do I prime the pigtail with water correctly? It seems that the pigtail connection does not go all the way down into the water, so how does the water stay in the loop and not just drain right out? Or, is it just that little water that is required?

JUGHNE

If you slowly pour water into the pigtail, you may hear it dribbling into the boiler water. This sound also assures you that the pigtail has a clean path to the steam chest.
Pour slowly so as to not syphon the trap dry. It takes very little water for it to do its job.

With the boiler steaming the lower part of the pigtail may burn your hand, whereas with the water in the loop the top is only warm.

ChrisJ

Put your hand around the pig tail and put your mouth against your hand and blow. Once clear put the control back on the pigtail. No need to fill with water as the air trapped will protect the stuff fine and steam will condense and fill it in its own.

jmob77

Hoping I'm not headed down a rabbit hole here: my gauge appears to be dead; reads 2 psi even when disconnected. Gauge is on a T next to pressuretrol. I've been told at my local plumbing supply that this is incorrect. True? There seems to be nowhere else to tap in and attach a gauge

Also, pigtail is attached to a T that seems to be a part of my relief valve. Is this a proper installation?

Photos enclosed. You'll see the ptrol cover is off, only because I was about to disconnect it.

ChrisJ

If you're going to use Steamaster as water treatment, please, whatever you do. DO NOT follow the instructions on the bottle.

They tell you to use way too much, it'll be a complete disaster you'll end up draining it out immediately. No harm will be done, and you'll likely really clean your system out but it's useless for normal use.

For normal residential boilers, 1 to 2 tablets MAXIMUM. 2 works for me, but depending on your water you may have a problem and will have to drain some water out of the boiler and replace it with fresh water. Basically, toss a bucket under the boiler drain and drain 3 gallons out or so and add fresh water to the boiler, then see how it behaves.


The problems too much Steamaster causes is foaming and carry over. Basically, your boiler pukes it's water up into the header and mains.

If you toss two tablets in and wait a few cycles and have no issues with excessive pressure or your water level dropping rapidly or the level in the gauge glass bouncing a lot your dose is fine.

Please keep in mind it takes a while for the tablets to dissolve, it doesn't happen immediately.


The color of your water with Steamaster indicates PH level. Blue is too acidic, below 7 I believe and purple is safe. If it's blue you may want to add more Steamaster, or find something else to increase the PH. Blue is dangerous, purple is safe.

Fred

Most gauges have a small screw either on the back or on the face that lets you re-calibrate the gauge. In realiity, that 30 PSI gauge is worthless anyway but it is required by most jurisdictions. Most of us add a 0-3 PSI gauge next to the old gauge. That will actually tell you what the boiler is doing. It is fine that the gauge is on a Tee. It's okay that it is mounted next to your PRV as well.

jmob77

I replaced the 30 psi gauge with a new one, but noticed it doesn't seem to register anything at all. All my radiators were hot, but still no reading. P-trol set at 1 psi.

Is it just that those gauges don't really respond in the low range?

As far as the 0-3 gauge; are those designed for gas applications? Does it make a difference? The people at the plumbing supply had such gauges, but said they were for gas, and I was hesitant to spend money on something that I might break-- through the wrong application--without being sure.

Fred

Yes, a 0-30 PSI gauge will likely not show any pressure at the lower range. Here is the link to the 0-3 PSI gauge most of us use:
http://www.valworx.com/product/low-pressure-gauge-25-0-3-psi