Yet another boiler cleaning thread!

Jells

So, I was a bit negligent to my boiler, new in 2012, and didn't skim it or drain it much after it was installed. The installer, former forum member Jstar, dropped out of residential work so was not available for regular maintenance. Anyway, I seem to be having trouble with the low water cutoff. I was getting mysterious burner shut downs, and have noticed the water was low several times and manually filled it. I just ran into a plumber I often use in the store and he said dump some cleaner in, and if that doesn't work he'll take a look.

So I bought a can of Squik, and have more questions than answers. The directions seemed to say dump it in and walk away. Done except for draining out precipitate sometime later. The maker of Squick doesn't even have their directions online!! Real old school. Threads here are all over the place, from recommending TSP to just skimming and draining. So there's that. There was a fair bit of goo on the skim plug and inside the pipe, so I'd guess there's a fair bit of goo on the fill sensor. Shouldn't I just be pulling it and cleaning it off to get a 'clean start'?

Another really stupid question is whether there's a wrong place to dump the stuff in. I seem to have a 3/4 capped off nipple in the back here that would be convenient, and much easier to use than the relief valve where I'd have to cut off the copper. But my knowledge of boiler anatomy is not so confident to be absolutely sure using it was OK.



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JUGHNE

What does the rest of the piping look like?
Top to bottom.

Jells

JUGHNE said:

What does the rest of the piping look like?
Top to bottom.

Why? Lucky I had a shot I took some other time.

KC_Jones

Don’t put anything in it. As far as I know Squick is intended for oils, that’s not your problem. If you have crud causing issues you flush that out with draining and filling.

The LWCO should be pulled, cleaned and verified to work yearly.

If you used Jstar that means NJ so if I was you I would call @Dave0176 or @EzzyT both are great with steam.

JUGHNE

Good looking drop to oversized header. Even a skim tap.
Carry on with skimming after draining the bottom crud out.

EBEBRATT-Ed

TSP and boil it out I like Dan's instructions in LAOSH for skimming works every time. I stick to TSP (no lye) and it seems to do a good job. Low water cutoff should be removed , cleaned and reinstalled especially after 6 yrs

JohnNY

What an odd installation. But at least there's a skim port valve installed. That suggests a skimming was performed at some point.
Your "mysterious boiler shutdowns" are an intended function of the low water cut off you've got there and are notorious for driving techs and troubleshooters crazy.
I have a shop in Essex County, NJ, and yes, @Dave0176 and @EzzyT are fantastic heat guys.

Jells

JohnNY said:

Your "mysterious boiler shutdowns" are an intended function of the low water cut off you've got there and are notorious for driving techs and troubleshooters crazy.

If they're notorious I wonder why no one suggested it was a culprit the last time I raised this issue, rather than telling me I needed a tech with a combustion meter? Is the unit designed for frequent service, or do both AC cables need to be disconnected to unscrew it from the port?