Autofeed stuck on - disaster averted

wildrage

I heard water running through pipes while up in bed...thought a toilet might be running. Traced the noise down to the basement. Autofeed on boiler was wide open with condensate pump cycling. Not sure how long it was like that...couldn't have been too long. (maybe an hour or 2) Pressure gauge was at 5, but the furnace had already tripped off.

Drained somewhere near 40 gallons out of the system. Thankfully I got to it before it started flooding. I cut off water to the feeder, and got the boiler to the proper level. Based on what I read, I can just keep the autofeed cut off, and monitor the levels a little more closely.

I had a high water situation at the beginning of last season, had my guy come out, who drained it, and told me if i was having any further issues with the auto feed, to give them a call. Level was high at the beginning of this season (about 2 weeks ago), so I drained it myself.

Question is - since the entire system was probably pretty flooded, is there anything that I should do before trying to fire it up again?

I'm also debating whether I want to call the pro back to troubleshoot the autofeed, or just keep it disabled. After googling, looks like it may be a little more trouble then it's worth. I purge the dirty water out of the system every week or so - figuring I could just monitor water levels at that time.

Thanks!

BobC

As long as the water is at the normal water level you sb all set. just monitor it the first time to make sore nothing got strange. Sometimes pressuretrols get wonky after something like that so make sure the pressure is normal and there are no unfamiliar sounds.

Bob

wildrage

Another question. I turned the boiler on, and it started to function properly. The full level on the sight glass is about 40% up. As the boiler starts to fire, it jumped up and down slightly....no more than 1/4 inch. As it started to create steam, the level dropped...almost to the bottom of the sight glass. When it got near the bottom, I'd hear a few clicks coming from the boiler, then hear the condensate pump kick on, raising the level of the sigh glass back to 40%. Watched it for like 20 mins, and it did this twice. Is this normal?

BobC

Did it ever act like this before the overfilling?

Does the water in the sight glass look different than it did before the overfilling? It's possible some sludge got freed up and is causing a problem. The boiler may have to be skimmed to clean up the water.

Bob

JUGHNE

Do you have a condensation pump or a boiler feed pump?

wildrage

I have a condensation pump and an auto water feed pump. Since the auto feed was stuck on earlier today, I cut the water off to it for this cycle.

It always moved in the glass a little, sot that's normal for me...like i said, not more than 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch. I had never watched it for 20 mins though. Is it normal to slowly drop during a cycle? It sort of makes sense to me, since the water in the boiler is converted to steam, so the level drops.

JUGHNE

So you have a cond pump that just turns itself on when full of return water?
Then you have an auto fill valve that puts water directly into the boiler?
There is a check valve between the pump and boiler, if leaking they can seep water back into the pump receiver, lowering the boiler level perhaps enough to turn on the auto feed before the pump starts to return the boiler water.
On a cold/cool start the pump side of the check valve should be cool. If it becomes hot (before returning hot condensate), you could have hot boiler water, which now has some pressure on it, pushing backwards thru a slightly leaking check valve.

In any event if you shut off the water feeder valve I would make sure the LWCO actually stops the burner. I would shut off the feeder valve and drain water out of the boiler while firing to insure burner cut off. IMO

wildrage

JUGHNE said:

So you have a cond pump that just turns itself on when full of return water?
Then you have an auto fill valve that puts water directly into the boiler?
There is a check valve between the pump and boiler, if leaking they can seep water back into the pump receiver, lowering the boiler level perhaps enough to turn on the auto feed before the pump starts to return the boiler water.
On a cold/cool start the pump side of the check valve should be cool. If it becomes hot (before returning hot condensate), you could have hot boiler water, which now has some pressure on it, pushing backwards thru a slightly leaking check valve.

In any event if you shut off the water feeder valve I would make sure the LWCO actually stops the burner. I would shut off the feeder valve and drain water out of the boiler while firing to insure burner cut off. IMO

I was tracing the piping and it looks like 1 pipe that feeds into the boiler, that's split off between the condensate pump and autofill.

Testing the LWCO is on my list of things to do tomorrow. Beleive it or not, I had Steamhead come all the way up here last year, and he replaced my pigtail and tested the system out, removing all the gunk from the LWCO...it wasn't working, but after the cleaning it was. It's about time for me to test it again.

Steamhead

Time to dump the pump and go back to gravity return. You really don't need it.

Athana

I have a Cyclegard on both my Steam Boilers..a few years ago it was 1am or so and I was dozing off upstairs and I heard water running..and I realized..it wasn't stopping !! I went to the basement and the water level on the boiler was at the top and it wasnt stopping. The one Cyclegard was asking for water and not shutting off.I shut the Water Feed,lowered Water down to normal level and would check the Boiler every day that my water level is at correct height.I started trying to contact my installer(JStar)who used to participate here but that was around the time he closed the company and not reachable and is now gone.
What happened it seems is my wife jacked up the heat one day when our back door was open during winter having something repaired and the Steam went to places it hasnt in years as we keep the house cooler than most people as we couldnt really afford to keep it up in this big thing.And water got so black.
Later I read that I should clean the CycleGard probe but Im not too sure on how to do it as the company in Connecticut wasnt very helpfull when i asked.
So since then I continue keepng an eye on the thing with water feed off. But I thought..if water level in boiler went down..there is a cut off thing that shuts boiler right..so the Cycle Gard is not really needed ??

Fred

That "probe" is actually for the Low Water Cut-off that would shut your burner down if the water got too low and then it would call for water to be added. You should test the LWCO at least at the beginning of the heating season to make sure it shuts the boiler down if the water gets too low. You can do that by simply draining enough water out of the boiler until you are below the probe and the burner should shut down. If it doesn't replace the probe and test again. You can leave the auto fill shut down but make sure the LWCO works!

Athana

Thanks..Then what is the Cyclegard?

Fred

The Cyclegard mounted on the front or side of the boiler is the Low Water Cut-Off (LWCO). The unit mounted on the water supply line is the Auto feed. The LWCO will energize the Auto water feed when the water level is below the probe. There is an electric line between the LWCO and the Auto feed.

Athana

And when the Cyclegard is asking for Water..and not shutting off is because Proble is dirty and needs to be cleaned yes? Thanks

Fred

It could be that the probe needs to be cleaned or it could be that the probe is bad or it could be that the Cyclegard control box itself is bad or it could be that the valve in the auto water feed is not closing properly. You really need to have someone diagnose the source of the problem.