Steam problem

Snowmelt

I went to a job today. Not the best near boiler piping but the rads weren’t getting hot.
Things I observed was the boiler was short cycling, customer replaced pressure trol but didn’t clean out pig tail. I looked for bows or sagging pipe were water would be trapped, I didn’t see any. Then there where rads that I took the air bleeder off and the rads heated up in 3 minutes. I’m thinking pig tail clogged up but not sure? Is there anything else I should be looking for?

Snowmelt

Picture

Jamie Hall

Air bleeder? By which do you mean a vent on a radiator? If so, could the vent be bad?

Pictures didn't post...

Snowmelt

Vents I don’t think are bad, home owner replaced them with adjustable ones. It old him as a suggestion get new ones with the biggest hole. But at this point you may be right.

Snowmelt

I’ll try pictures again

Jamie Hall

Seen a lot worse near boiler piping...

If radiators on a one pipe steam system aren't heating, either steam can't get to them (major sag in a pipe -- but you might also get a water hammer) or a closed valve -- or a vent which isn't venting. I'm thinking vents for starters...

Alan Welch

Is it short cycling on pressure or water level..  If the gage is accurate you have way to much pressure for the vents to open.

Steamhead

Alan Welch said:

Is it short cycling on pressure or water level..  If the gage is accurate you have way to much pressure for the vents to open.

This. Check that the pressuretrol is working, and that the wiring hasn't been altered- make sure the control actually stops the burners.

Snowmelt

It’s shutting off on pressure, the gauge is broke. I have a a feeling it’s the vents. Also could the pig tail be plugged,
The owner said one day he had no heat, and he swapped out the pressure trol on his own. I also noticed the pressure relieve valve went off and relieved some water

neilc

pressure relief went off while you were there?
check and clean that pigtail,
and get a working gage,

neilc

main venting,
what do you have for main venting?

neilc

and if you went high pressure,
rad, and main vents could be damaged closed

nicholas bonham-carter

The home owner may have separated the lower diaphragm chamber from the upper switch body in removing/replacing the pressuretrol, thus separating the linkage, resulting in no upper limit.—NBC

ratio

Lots of things to check, but if the relief valve relieved, that's an over pressure event. After you check out the pressuretrol & piggytail, the vents may have been damaged—I don't think they can take 30 lbs pressure.

ethicalpaul

Snowmelt said:

Vents I don’t think are bad, home owner replaced them with adjustable ones. It old him as a suggestion get new ones with the biggest hole. But at this point you may be right.

I don't think that was good vent advice.

You should be able to see the pressuretrol shut down the boiler on pressure while you are there--it seems like the boiler is building plenty of pressure to show you that. And personally I wouldn't leave until it does so, else red-tag the boiler (if I'm using the correct term)

It's this information that confuses me:

Snowmelt said:

It’s shutting off on pressure, the gauge is broke. I have a a feeling it’s the vents. Also could the pig tail be plugged,
The owner said one day he had no heat, and he swapped out the pressure trol on his own. I also noticed the pressure relieve valve went off and relieved some water

If the pressuretrol is shutting it down on pressure, then how did the PRV go off? It's not like a water PRV I think. If it goes off, it will vent all the steam and although I've never seen it in person, it should be a pretty shocking event because once the pressure gets high enough to blow it, then a lot more steam is going to get generated and released as the pressure is relieved.

Alan Welch

Steam should relief at 15 lbs.

ethicalpaul

As a final safety, yes, but in operation, it should never get to that point (because there should be an operational pressuretrol.