FOAMING LOTS OF IT

stevenknaub

about two months ago I made corrections to my near boiler piping eliminating bullheaded tees, installing a drop header, following all the LASH guidance. I then insulated the piping and refilled the flushed IN 4 Burnham boiler. My system immediately operated much better. about two weeks later I again flushed the system, and refilled and the system operated okay except wouldn't keep up in 5 to 8 degree F weather. About ten days ago, I had no heat due to low water. When I refilled the system with municipal water, I opened the pressure valve tapping to the atmosphere and began a 15 minute steaming to remove the oxygen from the added water. Immediately upon making steam, the water foamed and the entire water content foamed out of the boiler, sending the unit into low water cut off! I refilled the boiler 2 or 3 more times and the same thing happened. This has never happened prior (35 years). At my wits end and with no heat, I thought perhaps it is the water, so I went out and bought 15 gallons of spring water, it took 8 to fill the boiler and the wet return. I still had the tapping open and this time absolutely zero foaming for the 15 minute oxygen boil off, and the system has been fine since.
Any ideas why this would occur? The municipal water has been fine up to now.
Is it possible that the municipal water caused extreme foaming, and that the boiler could have foamed itself into the first low water cutoff? (saw no water on the floor, and have check everything for leaks)

Danny Scully

You havented mentioned skimming the boiler. Have you done this? “Draining/flushing” doesn’t count.

Dave0176

Yes as @Danny Scully said if you changed that many pipes and didn’t skim, the cutting oils WILL create foaming.

New England SteamWorks

stevenknaub said:

When I refilled the system with municipal water, I opened the pressure valve tapping to the atmosphere and began a 15 minute steaming to remove the oxygen from the added water.

You don't need to open the pressure valve tapping. Your system is open to the atmosphere via the vents. At least with it closed the water will stay in the boiler and you'll have heat. Not very efficient heat until you've skimmed properly. But heat none-the-less.

nicholas bonham-carter

This will be a good thread for linking, to show others what happens in an unskimmed boiler-especially the picture of the foam!—NBC

ttekushan_3

If it didn't foam before that fateful fill-up day and it didn't foam after supplying the boiler from bottled water, I don't see how the quality of the initial skimming has much bearing in this case. It may have some bearing but I'll get to that later.

Something's awry with the water supply I suspect. Maybe someone at water treatment slipped with the orthophosphate used to prevent corrosion in lead-containing piping. Perhaps something went wrong in some major repair in the muni system that illustrates the wisdom of back flow preventers. But circumstances indicate water source trouble.

If your area has extremely hard water, the water treatment facility may soften a portion and proportionally mix it with treated but unsoftened. If that went way off kilter you could have highly softened water going in and that would expose any shortcoming in the original skimming procedure.

If not, something else had contaminated the water. I'd be drinking that bottled water for the time being!

You could test by boiling two pots of water on the stove. Use your bottled water as a control. See what the tap water does when boiled in the other pot.

Oh. And what everyone else said, the steam system is open. So the oxygen purging with the relief valve is totally unnecessary. Most of the oxygen is already driven off when the water is hot before it starts boiling.

Try the stove boiling test. I'm curious.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I agree with @ttekushan boil some on the stove. Were all waiting to here about this one

stevenknaub

boiled on stove today. spring water in one pan, municipal water in other. when both came up on boil, spring water bubbles broke on surface, municipal water formed similar surface bubbles, but some of the bubbles grew much larger, perhaps the size of a dime and took a long time to, or did not break.