Fix one thing, Break another

ShakeNotSteamed

I have been living in my home for the past 7 years. This house is bit old and has Steam Furnace with Radiators. I called a boiler guy to come since for the past 2 weeks I kept losing power to my thermostat controller (Nest). I had to manually hold down this little red button for about 10 seconds to get the power back so I can get power to the thermostat to turn the heat on. The boiler guy came and replaced the little power module box. Also while there he asked me when was the last time I cleaned out the system. I told him I never had. I never knew I had to (first time homeowner here). He went ahead and opened the blow down valve and a bunch of slug really dark sediment came out. He did this several times until the water was relatively clear and filled the water up again. He left with the heat still working and I thought all would be good.
The next day comes and I notice my furnace has not turned on and the temperature is 66, when the temperature should be 70. The thermostat has power and is set to heat up. But the furnace is not triggering on. I decided to add a little more water and mess with the blow down valve. After doing that the furnace kicked on and ran until the heat was back to set temperature.
But this this happens everyday now. I have to toy with adding water and playing with the blow down valve to get the system to turn on. Any reason why this is now a problem when it never was before. The LWCO I have is a McDonnell & Miller Series 47-2. Are there any troubleshooting steps I can take. I downloaded/printed out the manual and read it. I was hoping to find instructions on how to open the float chamber and manually clean it out and check float, but I was not able to find anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Steamhead

If there was that much gunk in the LWCO, it probably needs more cleaning. Where are you located?

ShakeNotSteamed

I am located in Long Island, NY. I can audibly hear the switch in LWCO, switch on and back off again when I am messing with the blow down valve and water feed.
Last night, after about 20 minutes of messing with it, I gave up and went to bed. About 15 minutes later the heat suddenly came on. I have no idea what would triggered the delay and I don't like the idea of me introducing new water to the system on a daily basis, since I read on another thread that the oxygen in new water may lead to the acceleration of corrosion.
When the system is on, it works great, but getting the system to go on is becoming a bigger challenge each day.

Steamhead

Something else is going on here. Try the Find a Contractor page of this site- there are plenty of Steam Men in your area.

Fred

ShakeNotSteamed said:

I am located in Long Island, NY. I can audibly hear the switch in LWCO, switch on and back off again when I am messing with the blow down valve and water feed.
Last night, after about 20 minutes of messing with it, I gave up and went to bed. About 15 minutes later the heat suddenly came on. I have no idea what would triggered the delay and I don't like the idea of me introducing new water to the system on a daily basis, since I read on another thread that the oxygen in new water may lead to the acceleration of corrosion.
When the system is on, it works great, but getting the system to go on is becoming a bigger challenge each day.

It sounds like the pigtail (looped pipe) that the Pressuretrol is mounted on is probably clogged and needs to be taken off and cleaned out. When they get clogged, they will cause the Pressuretrol to hold presssure above the Cut-in pressure and the boiler won't fire until that pressure leaks enough to reach the set Cut-in pressure.

ShakeNotSteamed

Thanks guys. I got a Boiler guy from the a reputable company coming in today. I did take a look at the pig tail and it was indeed pretty clogged up.

New England SteamWorks

If your new guy doesn't work out, @Danny Scully will take care of you.

ShakeNotSteamed

@Fred The boiler guy came last night and the pigtail was pretty clogged and more so this 3 inch piece of pipe that connected the furnace to the pigtail. That piece was completely clogged. When that piece was removed you could not see out the other side at all. So after replacing both parts with two new ones the boiler is back to normal. I turned the heat on this morning just to test and the boiler turned right on. So glad this is over. Thank you for your input. You guys are the best.

Fred

@ShakeNotSteamed , Glad this is resolved and you are welcome. That pipe and pigtail should be cleaned at least once a year as part of your normal maintenance.