FINALLY.1st time in 4 years.PSI reached 1.5Mercury P-Troll shut burner.But PSI went back to0 quick

LS123

Good morning all...

I live in North west CT.. we got some of the Arctic Blast and temps been low single digits.
For the fist time, PSI reached 1.5 per low pressure gauge and initiated a shout down of oil burner when Mercury P-troll switched to cut electricity to the burner.
below are some things I notice and some questions I have for better understanding....

Observed:
1. with Arctic blast and wind temps were single digits and sometimes below freezing the Oil burner ran for a while, perhaps over an hours and kept the house warm.
2. At some point low Pres gauge indicated usual PSI from 1/4 to 1/2 went all the way up to 1.5 PSI
3. shut the burner down as it should be P-troll dropped to power cut out side.
4. with in matter of seconds PSI on the steam boiler went from 1.5 PSI to 0 PSI (on low pres gauge,) while the P-troll stayed at power cut off side.
5. At some point letter ( did not get to time it, was distracted by other events,) burner started to kick in when the P-troll went back to connect power side.

--- All of the above seems normal to me based on steam heat except Q # 4

Question are:
1. I can understand it takes a while for the burner to build up to 1.5 PSI. Is it normal to loose built up 1.5 PSI to 0 in less or equal to 10 20 seconds?
2. If loose PSI that fast is not normal, what might be possible matters that cause PSI to drop so fast on Low PSI gauge?
3. Is it also normal for mercury P-troll to stay at power cut off position even though PSI had reached to 1.5 then to 0 ?
4. If this is not normal behavior for P-troll to act as mentioned above, what might be causing it to act that way?

Many thanks!
\-LS123

Jamie Hall

All quite normal -- and it was a bit of a chilly morning, wasn't it? The only thing which is a little odd is that the pressuretrol didn't tip back more quickly. It may be a little sticky -- or it may be slightly out of level, or the pigtail leading to it may be slightly gummed up. Next time we get another one of those -- we will -- watch the mercury bulb. It should be moving (tipping) quite smoothly with pressure change, back and forth -- and then, when it reaches the cutoff you have set on it, the mercury in the bulb should be just about to slip over -- and then does. And then it should gradually (but quickly) tip back towards horizontal and, at the cutin point, be just about to slither back -- and does.

You can get rather fascinated by it...

LS123

Good morning @Jamie Hall ... thank you so much for above info....

I recently replace the pig tail and wash and air clean the rest of the pipes( going to low pres gauge and P-troll) ... Like you mentioned I have a feeling although I thought P-troll is level it may not be 100% level... when I took out the P-troll for cleaning..... about a month ago, I did notice bit of oily substance on the mounting part of the P-troll... wiped it off... perhaps that stuff is building up again and slowing down a things a bit... Good thing is almost everything is almost work as they are designed...

(** side note, also when I change the sight glass, I noticed bit of oiliness in the glass... so all these [including boiler, pipes, rads, etc] are up for good cleaning during mid / late spring or early summer) I have a experienced pro in mind from this site ( Charlie from west mass)


And yes ... this has been the coldest since I was in Quebec, about 20 years ago for computer system implementation job I did for Gov Canada for few weeks...

between covid-19 and this cold weather, I am really stuck at home looking for things to do...

and also I am loving what I learned from my single pipe steam boiler... its awesome !!

Best and wish you a happy Sunday!

\-LS123

EBEBRATT-Ed

@LS123

Don't get fixated on pressure. Steam systems need very little pressure to heat a house. The lower the pressure the better as long as you get heat. Your sounds normal

Be happy

LS123

@EBEBRATT-Ed , thank you!

yes the steam boiler was has been doing a good job heating the house until late last night and this morning at 0.25 to 0.50 PSI.... I always wanted to see Pressure go to 1.5 PSI and see Mercury P-Troll at work.... after 4 years of waiting.... it finally did what it should have done this morning... I was not sure if it should has lost 1.5 PSI to 0 so fast... @Jamie Hall clarified.... spring / summer... the system would get full clean up / tune up ... ( as I always mention... its been there 70 + years [except the oil burner] happy to have a less thirsty ( 0.85 GPH nozzle) doing its magic.... (still learning a lot about steam heat) ..... HAD i gone with one of the major home improvement biz at cost of 23 K hot water based..... I would have lot a valuable functioning steam system to HOT water system... I thank all of you at this forum, @Jamie Hall , @Charlie from wmass and our forum host @Erin Holohan Haskell .... for the info and knowledge provided to me about value of having gravity based, single pipe steam heat system.... the money I would have spent on hot water system would have not been worth while... with steam heat there are very little things to be concerned about.... Hole heatedly... I thank every one of you who contribute to this forum... and MOSTLY heatinghelp.com...
Thank you and best!
\-LS123

LS123

by the way please forgive my grammatical errors..... although its been nearly and over 30 plus years, I still make mistakes when it comes to writing and speaking... try to explain that to 21 year old daughter, and 16 year old son who has a mother of African model ( they make fun of my ability to be able to speak 4 languages...they are definitely don't meet the definition of leaders of past... they are American 100 %.. and not from "S@#$hold countries" ....

Jamie Hall

Look. You're typing and spelling is just fine, and so is your steam system. And if you can speak and write in four languages, you're three and a half ahead of an awful lot of folks these days.

neilc

your english is fine,

one quick thing with that mercury Ptrol,
you want the pigtail loop under it, aligned front to back, perpindicular to the front face of the Ptrol,
and the Ptrol should have a small plumb bob pendulum in the back of the case, and a marking on the case for plumb,
these are to align also,

post a picture if you have any doubts

LS123

deal all... , mostly for any misinterpretations of text above... I want to make 100% clear that nobody except one person had given me the wrong interpretation.... I while hardheartedly apologize to @EBEBRATT-Ed ... you have done nothing whatsoever to me or made me feel as i had described above.... Please accept my apologies.... I was in the wrong set of mind ad thinking of different "discussion" I had with someone else... I will explain to you all tomorrow... again @EBEBRATT-Ed my apologies... I did not intend to nor have I ever felt as I mentioned above with our discussions... you HAVE been respectful and always helpful... I thank you SO much @EBEBRATT-Ed ....

LS123

thank you @Jamie Hall and @neilc ... I will explain why I said such... although I am embarrassed by it... I may have given wrong impression ( especially my heatinghelp forum friend @EBEBRATT-Ed ... again I apologize to you @EBEBRATT-Ed

EBEBRATT-Ed

@LS123

I have not a clue what you are apologizing for. No need

I am 68......still can't spell!!