water loss in 30 year old weil mclain steam boiler

richardg

when filling boiler with water sight glass fills, i shut fresh water fill off and boiler empties out within a minute or two. no external leaks anywhere at boiler, or return line. boiler will empty out without it being on. where is the water going. is it possible to leave out the return down into the return line running along the floor ?

Big Ed_4

Water leaking out the rotted buried wet return lines .

richardg

water return line is above ground no leaks, runs along the floor and exterior wall of the house. also boiler is not running to create steam so the return does not have a chance to condensate and return to boiler. thanks.........

Big Ed_4

Does the return line run under any door ways or passages ?

richardg

no none at all totally visible, could the water be going right out the return line from the boiler ? thanks......

Big Ed_4

Yes it could and would .. The returning wet return should rise up into a tee which is piped to the minimum water level of boiler if the wet return springs an leak it would not fully drain the boiler .

JUGHNE

Do you have a drain pipe/hose from the boiler directly to a floor drain?

I was at a boiler 2 days ago that kept losing water. Hose across the floor to floor drain had water dripping out of it.

richardg

no hose from boiler to floor drain,no leaks anywhere i think it is leaking right out of the return from boiler into the wet return and filling it. thank you all.......

retiredguy

post a couple pictures of the boiler and return piping

EBEBRATT-Ed

Something is fishy.

Fred

If the boiler drains within a minute or two of being filled, you would see water somewhere. or there's a buried return that is totally rotted out or been leaking long enough that it has washed all the soil/gravel base out from under the floor.

JUGHNE

OP state all wet returns are above floor.
However sometime these can hide pretty good.
If pipe lying on the floor sometimes there is a tee in the line with the branch going down into the concrete. The other end could be buried inside a finished wall of the basement. FWIW

richardg

So I filled boiler again today and water is running out the return side right into wet return on floor filling it up. Note boiler is not running

Fred

Why is the boiler filling up before it runs out into the return? One would think water would fill the return first and then the boiler. You need to post pictures.

richardg

I am sorry probably not explaining it correctly. So the boiler has no water in it, I open the fresh water fill valve the sight glass gets 1/2 full and I shut the fill valve off. Within 3 minutes the sight glass is empty and when I open the valve at the bottom of the return/wet line that runs along the floor water is coming out. Also the boiler is not running at all because I have the switch off, so all this is happening by just filling the boiler with water and than immediately running out the return side by the Hartford loop.

bmma

Something doesn't make any sense. With a Hartford loop your boiler shouldn't empty out completely via the wet return. You should be seeing a large puddle under the boiler, but it sounds like that's not the case. Pictures are needed here.

Jamie Hall

"Running out the return side by the Hartford loop" is not quite the same, seems to me, as running through the Hartford loop to the wet return and then out. But I'm fussy about language.

Picture would help. Like... a lot.

But I wonder. Is there a plug, drain valve, or even the main return fitting on the boiler casting, which is leaking badly? Or a major crack or other problem in the block itself in that vicinity? It wouldn't take long for dry firing to shatter the block, and that's a good candidate...

Fred

richardg said:

I am sorry probably not explaining it correctly. So the boiler has no water in it, I open the fresh water fill valve the sight glass gets 1/2 full and I shut the fill valve off. Within 3 minutes the sight glass is empty and when I open the valve at the bottom of the return/wet line that runs along the floor water is coming out. Also the boiler is not running at all because I have the switch off, so all this is happening by just filling the boiler with water and than immediately running out the return side by the Hartford loop.

As I said in my earlier post, we need pictures. What you are saying about opening the valve on the on the bottom of the return line is totally normal. That wet return should always be full of water, up to the same level as the water in the boiler, unless you open that valve and drain it. The question is where is the water in the boiler going????

Big Ed_4

Its normal after 70 plus years , time to run new return line .. We are assuming since you do not see the leak its under the slab . We know we see this call often
.

mercedes

Rich please inspect your wet return from the main header to the boiler checked the basement floor if you have carpets it might cover up any visible leaks.
good luck