Should I add water? Short cycles, low water light, not heating.

raydoll

Wondering if it's safe to manually add water to the boiler. Burner lights,
runs for 30 seconds or so then
Low water indicator light comes on and burner shuts off. As far as I can tell water is not being added by water feeder. Water in sight glass is low but not that bad. Don't think there's too much water out in the pipes because it's been doing this all night and the rads aren't heating at the end of the lines.
If I do add water what's the correct way to do it?
Any advice much appreciated. It's a dang cold day up here in Maine.

SeymourCates

If the VXT (the feeder) is not properly adding makeup water, you can do it manually by opening the ball valve that is directly below the feeder. Do not open it all the way. Open it slightly and raise the level in the sight glass by three inches or so. Then close it. Monitor the level carefully once the boiler runs.

raydoll

How do I determine the correct level? should the boiler be shut off while I add water?

SeymourCates

The correct water level is typically 3/4" of the way up the sight glass when the boiler is not running. Some boilers can tolerate higher if they are piped very well. Some cannot.

You can add water while it is running but the capability to judge water level on the sight glass will not be available to you.

Since the boiler is currently not running, the question is moot.

raydoll

Thanks buddy! I added some water. Hoping that solves it. Any idea why the auto water feeder wouldn't be taking care of this? It's getting the call for water just not doing it.

SeymourCates

I consider it another over hyped electronic wonder that should go the way of the Cyclegard. I use Dwyer mechanical water meters and MM 101 Feeders. You'll replace three of those VXT's before these ever fail.

Fred

Looking at the picture of your water feeder, it either doesn't have power to it or it is dead. The water meter display should be lit.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Wondering if the Cycleguard is in the correct tapping. It looks high to me

raydoll

> @EBEBRATT-Ed said:
> Wondering if the Cycleguard is in the correct tapping. It looks high to me

I'm assuming it did what it was supposed to do- shut the boiler down on low water level. I don't see how it could be any lower.
The water feeder has a count of 053 on it. Boiler, water feeder, and the rest are all a year old.
@Fred I shut the emergency switch off when I took these pictures because the short cycling was making me totally insane.

Fred

Is it short cycling or that Cyclegard? That unit will shut the boiler down every 10 minutes to check the water level. If you get the opportunity, replace it with a Safegard. Uses the same probe but does not shut the boiler down all the time. The Cyclegard is a PIA.

raydoll

@Fred it was a lot less that 10 min cycles. I'm not sure exactly what it was doing- the burner would light, run for 30-45 seconds the low water light would start blinking then the burner could cut out. It would do the whole thing again in 3 mins. The water feeder was NOT correcting the low water lever- although I saw the dot that shows it received the call for water. Been running good all day since I added water. Gonna check level again before I turn in tonight.

Fred

The little I can see of the boiler, it looks fairly new but how long has it been since the LWCO probe was taken out and cleaned? The probe may just need to be cleaned with some fine steel wool.

raydoll

@Fred brand new last year. Is cleaning that probe something that I can do fairly easily myself or better to call in a tech?
Thanks for your help!

Fred

You should be able to do it yourself but you will probably have to lower the water level a bit (down below where the probe goes into the boiler block). That probe has to be grounded well against the boiler block and it is recommended that you not use teflon tape when installing it, just a little pipe dope.

MilanD

You can do it your self. Lower water level to under the probe, cut out power to the boiler, check that it is on fact off line, then remove cover and wires. There is a central nut that holds the housing on the probe, take it off and them remove the probe with an adjustable wrench. Take picks of what wire goes where so you can put it back together.

But, you have some problem with water loss. 53 gallons is a lot of water to make up in one and a half heating season. Even with weekly blowdowns, should be 5-6 gals at the most for the entire season on a smaller system (400-500 EDR). You need to find out where the water is going.

Jamie Hall

Ah... let's back up a minute. If the LWCO is cutting off the boiler on low water, it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do. What isn't happening, perhaps, is that the water feeder isn't feeding water. Either it's not getting the signal to do so -- although the comment that it seems to get a signal to do so suggests that that's not the problem either -- or the valve in the feeder isn't opening or a filter is plugged.

Let's not worry about the LWCO just yet; let's find out why the feeder isn't feeding.

nicholas bonham-carter

We can also worry about the water usage-where is the water going?—NBC

raydoll

@Jamie Hall you're right- it does seem like LWCO is working as it should be. At the beginning of the heating season its count was at 23 I believe, so I know that it's been doing something these past couple months. Do you have any advice for figuring out what it's issue is? It might be under warranty still since its new last year.
@nicholas bonham-carter I am very concerned about losing so much water. I know that I have at least 2 rads that need valves replaced- but they don't even have noticeable leaks, no dripping or anything. I really need to find someone knowledgeable and willing to work on this thing. I do need at least one rad replaced, I have that one shut off at the valve, and it's not leaking from there. The boiler installation is not ideal to begin with, near boiler piping was not redone at install because it was an identical replacement. It's a Burnham V8H-7