Valve on wet return

heatinghelp819

I have a valve towards the end of my wet return, a couple feet or so before the Hartford loop, and connects to the pipe where new water is fed into the boiler. Pics attached.

If I drain here, I sometimes get muddy water, which I understand, but if steammaster tablets have been added to my boiler, could I (should I) also be seeing pink colored water from here, or should it be clear? Does the condensate that returns from the rads take on the color of the water in the boiler, or if I'm seeing pink water, am I somehow draining water from the boiler via this spout?

JUGHNE

Pictures?

heatinghelp819

Sorry not sure why they didn't post the first time. It's the valve off the white colored pipe (right before the white pipe becomes black pipe).

Fred

You are likely draining water from the wet return and the boiler until the water in the boiler gets down to the level of the Hartford loop. Then it's all from the wet return. The water draining from the boiler will be pink but since those chemicals are not suppose to vaporize, once the boiler water gets to the Hartford loop the rest probably has no pink color, most likely brown.

heatinghelp819

So the water from the boiler comes backwards through the Hartford loop when I open that valve? While at the same time water drains from the wet return?

Just trying to understand why I'm seeing pink water from there.

Fred

Initially, probably more water is coming from the boiler end because of gravity but there will be some coming from the wet return as well because the water level will be the same height in the vertical pipe that drops down to the wet return as the boiler water level.

heatinghelp819

But the Hartford loop goes up and then down before going into the boiler. So gravity would only pull down water from the top of the Hartford loop, not pull water up and out of the boiler through the Hartford loop, right?

Shouldn't one be able to drain the wet return without having to first drain a good amount of water out of the boiler? Am I missing something??

Fred

The water in the boiler is typically a couple inches above the Hartford loop. Water will push out of the boiler down to the level of the lower wall of that elbow on the Hartford loop.

Jamie Hall

So long as the water in the boiler is above the level of the Hartford Loop, it doesn't care whether the loop goes up, down, or sideways. It will still flow. Only when it drops below the loop will it stop, since the loop is vented by the equalizer (if it weren't vented, it would form a siphon and keep flowing) -- which, of course, is why the loop is there in the first place -- to prevent complete loss of boiler water in the event of a wet return leak.

heatinghelp819

This is a view of the other side of the boiler showing how the Hartford loop is connected. The water in the boiler is just a couple inches above which part?

Fred

A couple inches above the bottom of that top elbow on the Hartford loop, connected to the equalizer.

Neild5

My boiler's manual shows the top of the OD of the Hartford loop pipe should be 2 inches below the water line. This would allow the treated water to be in the wet return.