need to add water weekly?

[Deleted User]

Does it make sense that I need to add water to my one pipe steam system weekly?

MilanD

No, that's not normal, but it depends. How large is your system and how much water are you adding?

It's possible you are losing water somewhere. Do you have any buried returns? Also, are all the vents closing when steam hits them? How long has it been acting like this? Worst case scenario, hole above the water line in the boiler. You can check for leaks by flooding the boiler.

[Deleted User]

The last couple of weeks its been acting like this. (It has been markedly colder though.)

We have a low water cut off device setup. I add just enough water so that the water is just below the halfway mark. Less than a gallon I would say.

There are no buried returns. It's the 2nd story of a 2 family building. We have 7 radiators in that 1500 sq ft.

I did just note one of the radiators leaking around the steam inlet valve. It's a very small leak. I will try to tighten the connection there once the radiator cools down.

I need to check about the vents.

Fred

It doesn't take much of a leak to lose a gallon of water a week. I suspect that inlet valve you found leaking is the source of the problem. Just for reference, last week I had a bathroom sink faucet start to drip (and I mean a drip about every two or three seconds). I put the stopper in the sink to see how much water that equated to over an hour or so. I forgot about it until I went back into that bathroom about eight hours later and, had it not been for the overflow in the sink, it would have over-filled out, onto the floor!

mikeg2015

If one stem is leaking. The odds are some non visible vapor is also leaking on others.

What pressure are you running? Reducing pressure can dramatically reduce leaks. I have evidence in many places of leaks in the past but at the low pressures I’m at I now it’s minimal.

MilanD

This.

Fred said:

It doesn't take much of a leak to lose a gallon of water a week. I suspect that inlet valve you found leaking is the source of the problem. Just for reference, last week I had a bathroom sink faucet start to drip (and I mean a drip about every two or three seconds). I put the stopper in the sink to see how much water that equated to over an hour or so. I forgot about it until I went back into that bathroom about eight hours later and, had it not been for the overflow in the sink, it would have over-filled out, onto the floor!

[Deleted User]

The lowest you can go, 0.5 cut in on the pressuretrol with the differential set to 1.

The overall system is pretty old overall (the boiler was replaced in 2011 but I know the pipes running to and from the radiators are a lot older.) I guess I wouldn't be surprised if there were other smaller leaks that we can't see. The folks who owned the house before us definitely did not maintain things well.

We'll tighten that one up and keep an eye out.

Kahooli

I'm a fan of keeping a water meter on the feed line and logging the usage weekly. a quality water meter is about $50 though

MilanD

I bought this one - and it's quite fine for what is needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Awakingdemi-Water-Meters-Garden-Fittings/dp/B01CZEMMBI/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1513627204&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=water+meter&psc=1

acwagner

I recall on an earlier post you were adding insulation to your mains. If you haven't covered them up already, try checking any unions you have on your mains. I've found on my system they are the weak spots that are prone to loosen up over time and start leaking.

[Deleted User]

acwagner said:

I recall on an earlier post you were adding insulation to your mains. If you haven't covered them up already, try checking any unions you have on your mains. I've found on my system they are the weak spots that are prone to loosen up over time and start leaking.

That's right. We have insulated most of the long runs and have not gotten to the connections yet. Now that I know we'll be keeping an eye on those for a bit as well.

[Deleted User]

Well it appears to be the radiator valve that was leaking that made us lose all that water. I left a drip pain under the valve for a couple of days. It looked like we were loosing about 1 cup of so of water a day.

We tightened the valve with a little Teflon around the threads. All is good now.

Fred

Good for you!

ChrisJ

I have to add water once a week if it's an extreme week such as below zero every night all week. Otherwise it's once a month typically. Once every 2 months in mild weather

RomanGK_26986764589

@ChrisJ How much water do you approximately add when you refill the boiler?

ChrisJ

RomanGK_26986764589 said:

@ChrisJ How much water do you approximately add when you refill the boiler?

I don't let it drop nearly as far as most people.

I only let it drop 1/2 an inch or so in the gauge glass, but I think I figured out I add approximately a quart or so but I could be wrong.

RomanGK_26986764589

ChrisJ said:

RomanGK_26986764589 said:

@ChrisJ How much water do you approximately add when you refill the boiler?

I don't let it drop nearly as far as most people.

I only let it drop 1/2 an inch or so in the gauge glass, but I think I figured out I add approximately a quart or so but I could be wrong.

I also have WM EG 40 and I recently added about 1 inch on the gauge glass since I first filled the boiler on October 26th. I remember awhile ago I measured and 1 inch on the gauge glass equals about 1 gallon of water in WM Eg 40 boiler. So I use about 2 or 3 gallons of water per season. Is it excessive?

ChrisJ

> @RomanGK_26986764589 said:
> @ChrisJ How much water do you approximately add when you refill the boiler?
>
>
> I don't let it drop nearly as far as most people.
>
> I only let it drop 1/2 an inch or so in the gauge glass, but I think I figured out I add approximately a quart or so but I could be wrong.
>
>
>
> I also have WM EG 40 and I recently added about 1 inch on the gauge glass since I first filled the boiler on October 26th. I remember awhile ago I measured and 1 inch on the gauge glass equals about 1 gallon of water in WM Eg 40 boiler. So I use about 2 or 3 gallons of water per season. Is it excessive?

I don't think it is no. Most if not all of that is lost as humidity when the system breaths. The air it sucks in is dry and the air it vents out is damp.

JPL941

nicholas bonham-carter

The important thing to know about steam boiler water loss would be the gallons used. The best LWCO’s have an added water meter which will record the added water volume over the entire life of the boiler.
It would be hard to judge only from the site glass movement whether your usage was abnormal or not. You can inspect the wet return piping, and do an overfilling test if you feel the boiler needs to be topped up too frequently.—NBC

Fred

There is some evaporation with steam heat. As Nick said, have a meter on the water feeder is more accurate. Another way to determine how much water you are using is to fill the boiler sight glass back up to it's normal level, then drain the water, into a bucket, back down to your clothes pin and measure how much water is in the bucket. A quarter to a half inch, over 12 days, if the boiler is running a lot, doesn't seem excessive.