Skimming steam boiler

tkos115

I'm sure this question has been asked numerous times on here. I'm mostly looking to clarify that i'm looking at the right port. I circled the one in the picture I believe it is. For skimming it do I just get the boiler up to steam and open the skim port a bit with a bucket under it?


Thanks for your help!

Fred

Are there any other boiler tappings at that height? If that is your water feed going into the top of that port, you won't be skimming the boiler when you feed water, you will just be letting the water from that pipe run out of the open end.

tkos115

That is the only tap on it at that height. The water feed is the pipe you see in the lower left of the picture. Its the copper line that runs down to the iron pipe tee at the bottom of the boiler. It has a valve further up I can use to open and close the water flow.

Fred

tkos115 said:

That is the only tap on it at that height. The water feed is the pipe you see in the lower left of the picture. Its the copper line that runs down to the iron pipe tee at the bottom of the boiler. It has a valve further up I can use to open and close the water flow.

Then yes, you can use that tapping you circled to skim the boiler. Most skim ports are 1.25 to 1.5". Your tapping, in the boiler has been bushed down so when you skim, do so very slowly and take a little longer on the skim. You don't want any turbulence on the surface of the boiler water and you want the surface water/oils to run off and out that tapping.

ethicalpaul

OK now I'm curious, what's that copper pipe coming up from the alleged skim port?

Fred

ethicalpaul said:

OK now I'm curious, what's that copper pipe coming up from the alleged skim port?

I was curious too @ethicalpaul but I didn't want to belabor the issue.

tkos115

I was actually just thinking the same thing, it appears to run over to my hot water tank. Ill upload the pic I have of it on my phone. It's not a great picture but it's all I have since im not home right now.

tkos115

KC_Jones

If that’s the water feed for the boiler you can’t skim there.

tkos115

I don't have an automatic water feeder on this boiler. I top it off manually with the line to the bottom left of the first picture. Farther up there is a valve I use to turn it on and off with. So that line coming off the tap isn't pressurized water feeding into the boiler. I'm not entirely sure what it is. I'll have to take a better look at it tonight and upload a few pics. But it appears to go to my hot water tank.

jhrost

Makes me think of a neighbors old steam boiler. His feed water came from the hot water tank. What are the pros and cons of feeding hot water into a boiler? Would it have any effect on lime formation ? Would it prevent thermal shock?

Fred

jhrost said:

Makes me think of a neighbors old steam boiler. His feed water came from the hot water tank. What are the pros and cons of feeding hot water into a boiler? Would it have any effect on lime formation ? Would it prevent thermal shock?

There is no real benefit to using hot water to feed a boiler. Feeding cold water, if tied in properly in a return, is tempered by the hot water returning to the boiler so no risk of thermal shock. A lot of hot water heaters are fed with softened water which will introduce salts into the boiler.

Danny Scully

It’s an indirect water heater and it appears to be the return...not ideal and should be relocated.

Hap_Hazzard

Fred said:

jhrost said:

Makes me think of a neighbors old steam boiler. His feed water came from the hot water tank. What are the pros and cons of feeding hot water into a boiler? Would it have any effect on lime formation ? Would it prevent thermal shock?

There is no real benefit to using hot water to feed a boiler. Feeding cold water, if tied in properly in a return, is tempered by the hot water returning to the boiler so no risk of thermal shock. A lot of hot water heaters are fed with softened water which will introduce salts into the boiler.

The only advantage would be that the water would be deoxygenated, but you should definitely NOT use hot water with an auto-feeder or, as Fred noted, if there is a water softener.

tkos115

The water feed line to fill the boiler is cold water. The line running from that tap goes into the bottom of my hot water storage tank. I'll include some pictures I took of it today.

Hap_Hazzard

tkos115 said:

The water feed line to fill the boiler is cold water. The line running from that tap goes into the bottom of my hot water storage tank. I'll include some pictures I took of it today.

Is that connected to the pressure relief valve on the water heater? There should be two valves at the bottom of yout water heater: a drain cock, which shouldn't be connected to anything, and a pressure relief valve, which should be piped to the nearest floor drain or your sump, if you have one. There should also be a relief valve on your boiler, connected to a fitting above the water level. It should also be piped to waste.

tkos115

No it is piped to the hot water tank on it's own line. The tank does have it's own pressure relief valve that goes to the floor. The boiler also has it's own relief valve on the other side.