Blowdown valve replacement

bdwild

Greetings All,
Moved in to first home with steam heat 4 years ago... and this site has been invaluable!!
Need a little help with this: I'm replacing the blow down valve on an older McDonnell&Miller series 67 lwco with spring loaded valve - with a new 14-B ball valve.
At one point instructions say "For spring type blow down valves, the spring mechanism must be removed from the control body".
Can anyone guide me as to how to remove this spring mechanism? Its not obvious to me. Photo attached -
Thank you in advance!

nicholas bonham-carter

On my MM LWCO, 5 years ago, I was able to put a more recent ball valve on, (made by MM).
When that began to leak, I left it open, with another generic ball valve at the end of the piping over to the bucket. Now I am closer to the bucket than before and can see when the discharge goes clear.—NBC

bdwild

Nicholas, did you have to remove the spring mechanism to put on the more recent ball valve? If so, how did you do that?

nicholas bonham-carter

The new valve body contained a ball valve, instead of the old spring loaded valve, and that lasted 10 years, before leaking.
I'm pretty sure the new can fit where the old was once.--NBC

EBEBRATT-Ed

@bdwild , the spring mechanism in the picture needs to be removed. It's attached to nothing in the low water cutoff. Just knock it out of there. It's just stuck with crud. Clean and flush the inside of the lwco before installing the new blow down valve.

When complete make sure the control shuts the burner down when you blow it down. Check it several times to be sure

bdwild

Ebebratt-Ed, thanks so much! Just what I was looking for - The wife will be happy we'll have heat tonight.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@bdwild
Glad it worked out