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New house owner, steam boiler questions

Hey all, new to the forums and recently became home owner with a steam heating system. I have some questions to hopefully better understand my setup and how to properly operate/maintain it. I’m not entirely new to steam as I’ve helped my parents maintain theirs as best as I could. I am new to having to constantly maintain one for my home.
First my boiler is a Dunkirk PSB-5D 150kBTU, it has the basic Honeywell pressuretrol, and a Cycle Gard LWCO, no auto water feeder.
My questions are: how can I tell if my system is 1 pipe or 2 pipe. I believe 2 pipes or zones? My header goes into a Tee and splits to the front/back of the house. I also have 2 return pipes with vents.
Should I add an auto water feeder? Not sure if steam boilers these days need as much hands on maintenance during heat season anymore. Could I install an auto feeder and just periodically check it till season is over?
Should I be topping off the water to the level in the sight glass periodically or wait till it’s super low or LWCO enables?
I have been having a weird issue, I did a flush, re leveled radiators and adjusted/changed vents before starting the season. So the system ran perfect and quiet. I topped off the water after a few days and then I started getting hammering in the pipes, because I topped off? Should I wait till the level is lower or am I missing something here? I had to re flush/fill the system to get it quiet again.
Should I be topping off the water to the level in the sight glass periodically or wait till it’s super low or LWCO enables?
I have been having a weird issue, I did a flush, re leveled radiators and adjusted/changed vents before starting the season. So the system ran perfect and quiet. I topped off the water after a few days and then I started getting hammering in the pipes, because I topped off? Should I wait till the level is lower or am I missing something here? I had to re flush/fill the system to get it quiet again.
I have found the sweet spot to run my boiler since getting a smart stat. I am going on about a week an half and water level has only dropped about 1-2gal, haven’t topped off yet till I get some feedback. Basically I set my temp to 69 during the day, 70 at night with a 2 degree threshold. This gives the condensate enough time to fully return and keeps my level pretty consistent.
Appreciate any input, thanks
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Comments
1-2 gallons per week is too much. You have a leak or leaks of water and/or steam somewhere.
you can add water as you like but keep an eye on how much. Adding water adds oxygen and rots your iron. So find those leaks.
buy “we got steam heat” from the store on this site, it will answer your questions plus many you haven’t thought of yet. Welcome!
I have recently found people saying you need to run the boiler right after you top off. Maybe this is why I have had the hammering issue. Because I am not running the boiler right after.
You could add an automatic feeder. You may not need one, if you check the boiler a couple of times a week. The ideal water level may be marked on the boiler; if not, try to maintain the water level after all the condensate returns at about the middle of the sight glass. Too high, and you get carryover -- and bangs, as you discovered! Just when you do check, just give it a shot to bring it up if that's needed (you can use a marker to mark the sight glass -- or a spring clothes pin).
No need in the heating season to run the boiler right away -- the next cycle is plenty soon enough.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-Mclain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
i will double check the manual for fill level as it seems whoever installed it added the mark. Might be a bit high and I am slightly overfilling causing hammering as you said.
What pressure does the boiler run at and where are the pressuretrol settings at?
You say you re-leveled the radiators, this could be a source of noise, especially in a 1 pipe system I understand. you want the radiators to pitch slightly to the pipe so condensed water can drain back out perhaps you have extra water pooled the radiators now and the steam has to fight harder to get in against it?
Just trying to learn what I can do myself and what I just shouldn't touch
Yup, that is actually what I said myself, haven't seen such clean job on copper in a while. I am planning to maybe tackle this myself on the off season, if it seems like too much I will get someone. I am in Northern MA, foundation needs a repoint soon.
Yep, i am gathering the info to properly size and pipe this soon. The existing black steel pipes seem to be 2". They are reduced to 1" when they branch off to the radiators, or to the pipes heading up to the 2nd floor. I have a feeling the way the header is and the angled Tee off might have something to do with the issue.
Yes, the main vents are next, they're the only thing i haven't changed. Was doing some research, and think i am going with some Gorton #1's in 3/4. It definitely does look like plumbers, or general handyman work.
Boiler is oversized, venting is inadequate, or both.
Length and diameter (sch 40 pipe size) of the mains will help determine proper main venting. Measuring rads and doing the EDR calculations will help determine how well the boiler is sized, not that it will be changed, but does give you an idea what to expect performance wise.
EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Boiler Control
Boiler pictures updated 2/21/15
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boiler is definitely oversized. My home is roughly about 2100sqft, with 4 radiators per floor, ranging in size according to location, and 1 small radiator in the front hallway. I changed all vents and got the specific numbers for the vents according to how quickly I see how fast they got and how much head the room they’re located in seemed to need.
The changes I made at the thermostat seem to be running the boiler better. My setpoints are 70 degrees during the day, 71 during sleep hours, with a 3 degree setback before cycling on again. This drops the temperature enough, so that the boiler runs a bit longer to get to setpoint, and is allowing all radiators to get hot.
Still noticing I get hammering on the one riser to the coldest room in the house on the second floor. This is the one I had mentioned takes the longest to warm up, and wasn't warming up at all before I made the thermostat changes.
Now i noticed something new, in the radiator directly below the problematic one on the first floor. It sounds as if the system has too much water in it. I can hear water sloshing around the radiator on the first floor, and then sort of sloshing up the riser to the second floor. I feel as if there is definitely water in there and causing the hammering. Is there something I might have missed here? As I said, all radiators have new vents, and properly pitched, and no water coming out of the vents.
You will need to remove the 2 1/2" plug from the Tee on the side of boiler.
Then reduce to 1 1/4" on the horizontal for skimming at that point.
Maybe several shots of PB Blaster over several days, if stubborn.
But I would take off the elbow. This lets you better see how much water is flowing out and you can see if there are any floaties/oil slicks coming out.
Well, hmmm, that's not "warmed up", that's full steaming. Typically you would heat it up to just before steaming then start skimming. The reason is, if it's steaming, then the boiling water stirs up all the gunk that you want to be gently floating on top.
What I do is slowly fill it up to the skim port, THEN run the boiler but don't let it steam, THEN slightly open the supply to start skimming.
as you boil a while you will steam clean the rest of the system where all your wet steam and hammering, were,
and that all returns to, the boiler
why do you think a smaller vent is more likely to close than a large one? All working vents close when steam hits them regardless of size.
Do you have a spare? They break. Yours looks very clean. Once the water is skimmed and clean, it tends to clean itself with help from occasionally draining from its drain. If it does break, you can close the valves to keep your boiler running, but then it's hard to see the water level