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30 psi gauge

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JWise
JWise Member Posts: 5
in Strictly Steam
My pressure gauge sometimes reaches 5psi, why?
My cut-in is set at 0.5, with diff set to 1 on the dial. But the cut-out doesn't seem to happen until the psi gauge reaches 5psi. Is this ok ?

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  • AnthraciteEnergetics
    AnthraciteEnergetics Member Posts: 77
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    Could be gauge accuracy or pressuretrol accuracy, maybe plugged pigtail. There was a post on this issue recently.

    Clean your pigtail, check ports on gauges to ensure they are free of dirt. Most recommend buying a low pressure gauge (0 to 3 or 0 to 5 psi) if you are serious about the diagnostics. Add that in addition to the 30 psi gauge.
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,069
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    Is your control and gauge on the same pigtail?
  • sldamiano
    sldamiano Member Posts: 34
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    > @JUGHNE said:
    > Is your control and gauge on the same pigtail?

    Yes it is. And I just had pigtail cleaned.
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
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    Put a 0-3 PSI gauge on there and see if it climbs. Re Calibrate the Pressuretrol if needed:
    Inside the Pressuretrol, right below the micro switch, there is a pivot arm. At the end of that arm you will see a screw pin that is activated by the diaphragm at the bottom of the Pressuretrol. If you look very carefully at that screw pin, you will see it actually has a tiny (I mean tiny) hex head on it. It takes a .050 hex wrench and you can turn it clockwise (Towards the bottom of the Pressuretrol to decrease the Cut-out pressure or counter clockwise to increase the cut-out pressure (which none of us want to do but who knows, your Pressuretrol may be really screwed up!). Turn the power to the unit off first. You may find the first attempt to turn that screw a little bit stubborn (relatively speaking) because it has some Locktite on it but it does turn. Don't turn too much, a tiny fraction of a turn goes a long way towards getting it adjusted where you want it (maybe 1/32 inch turn to start with) . You may need to play with it to get it exactly where you want cut out to be.
    sldamiano
  • sldamiano
    sldamiano Member Posts: 34
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    Could it be the gauge is wrong ? The pressure rises fairly quickly. Within minutes of firing up it hits 2 psi. Cuts out at 5.
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
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    Certainly could be the gauge.
  • Neild5
    Neild5 Member Posts: 167
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    The gouge could be bad, but if a new 0-3 pi gauge goes up that quickly you probably need to look at your main vents.
    sldamiano
  • sldamiano
    sldamiano Member Posts: 34
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    I guess I don’t understand where pressure comes from in the system. My rads all heat up evenly and quickly. Just noticed the short cycling and the psi gauge raising quickly wasn’t “normal” after poking around these threads
  • sldamiano
    sldamiano Member Posts: 34
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    > @Neild5 said:
    > The gouge could be bad, but if a new 0-3 pi gauge goes up that quickly you probably need to look at your main vents.
    >
    I just had this beauty placed
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    edited December 2017
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    If short cycling, it probably means:
    - the boiler is over-sized and producing more steam than the connected radiation can condense
    - the mains may not have enough (or any) vents which allows the back pressure to build as the steam tries to push the air out of the system
    - the gauge is likely not defective
    - You are using deep setbacks that require the boiler to run for extended periods to bring the house back up to temp

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