Steam Boiler for Summer

melo

New home owner here. 

What do I do with my steam boiler for the summer? It’s a crown boiler. 

Currently it has the pilot light on and everything is pretty much on. Do I empty the water out, turn off the pilot light, and close off the gas pipe? 

What’s the procedure for leaving it alone for the summer months until it’s needed again later on? 

ethicalpaul

The Lost Art book seems to imply that draining it is the thing to do.

I don't feel the urge to do that. I'm going the opposite direction and filling it up to about the header making sure the ph level is 10-11 to slow corrosion.

The thinking here is to move the water level out of the boiler because the most corrosion tends to occur at the water level. Whether this matters in the life of the boiler is difficult to prove. Maybe all the corrosion happens during the heating season.

Turn off the gas supply to your standing pilot. How do you still have a standing pilot?

Jamie Hall

Honestly I just leave Cedric alone... he runs occasionally on the cooler mornings.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Yeah, leave it alone

motoguy128

I use mine for DHW on an indirect tank. Once the cool mornings are over (I use heat pump only above 50F), I flood it 3-4” into the supply header. I add some more 8-way if I haven’t treated in recently depending on the color.

Honestly, I ran it when flooded to the top of the sight glass a few times and it actually ran fine since I have a drop header. Gauge just showed a few oz slightly higher pressure. No hammer at all.

ChrisJ

I overfill mine slightly and let it boil for a while (heat several sections of the radiators) just to make sure all of the dissolved O2 is gone. Then I leave it for the summer.