Blow off valve issue

AKheat_91

Hello everyone, excuse my negligence. I am not the most versed in this particular topic. 

Recently purchased a new home, one day we ran out of heating oil. Went down to the garage to investigate and I noticed water leaking from above a ceiling tile. I did some poking around and found the culprit to be a pipe with an open end in a very difficult to reach place with the open end facing down directly into a piece of 2x4 above my garage ceiling.

I traced the pipe back to the boiler. I verified the valve going to the pipe was closed. I stuck a fan in the area that had the water coming out, stuck a bowl under the open end of the pipe and called it good. 

I continued to monitor it and there seemed to be just a little bit of water collecting in the bowl but nothing too much, I considered this mystery solved. I checked it this morning and the bowl itself was essentially empty. This evening how ever we ran out of heating oil again. I went down to the garage and once again noticed water dripping from the ceiling panel. Went up to check the bowl and saw it was completely full.

My thinking is that this pipe is connected to some type of blow off valve on the boiler and when the furnace shuts off it causing water to release from this pipe. If anyone could shed some light on this I would appreciate it.

How should I be addressing this? My thinking is maybe I can re route this pipe into a more convenient place for water to drain as right above a ceiling panel is ridiculous in my eyes

Im running a Systems 2000 if that matters

nicholas bonham-carter

If the valve to the pipe were closed, then it should not have allowed any water to flow.
Can you post a picture of where the pipe connects to the boiler, and of the pressure gauge?
does the boiler also make hot water?—NBC

Jamie Hall

We need pictures. Badly. To find out what that pipe and valve is. I know of no valve on a boiler which should be discharging any water, under any circumstance to the open air if things are working as they should.

rick in Alaska

My bet is that someone abandoned a pipe, but did not cap it off. I will also bet the valve is a globe valve, and when the boiler shuts off, the seal dries up and leaks like all rubber seals on a boiler do when they get cold. ( think dielectric unions). Then when it heats back up, the seal reseats itself, and the leak stops.
But we do need pictures of where the line ties in to the system to know for sure.
Rick

AKheat_91

rick in Alaska said:

My bet is that someone abandoned a pipe, but did not cap it off. I will also bet the valve is a globe valve, and when the boiler shuts off, the seal dries up and leaks like all rubber seals on a boiler do when they get cold. ( think dielectric unions). Then when it heats back up, the seal reseats itself, and the leak stops. But we do need pictures of where the line ties in to the system to know for sure. Rick

Jamie Hall said:

We need pictures. Badly. To find out what that pipe and valve is. I know of no valve on a boiler which should be discharging any water, under any circumstance to the open air if things are working as they should.

nicholas bonham-carter said:

If the valve to the pipe were closed, then it should not have allowed any water to flow.
Can you post a picture of where the pipe connects to the boiler, and of the pressure gauge?
does the boiler also make hot water?—NBC

Here I’ll try to illustrate where the pipe end at and how it connects back to the boiler 

The colors change when the line splits 

starting at the open end of the pipe 

It then runs behind a wall over the celing before dropping down again in the garage

It then drops down here where the line splits and has a few valves, the one going directly into the line is in the closed position fully

The line then splits with the blue going into the Systems 2000 Furnace 

And the green going into the water heater 

I appreciate you guys taking the time out of your day to help me trouble shoot this issue. Let me know if you need any more pictures or information 

Jamie Hall

The shutoff valve to that line which drips is the ball valve I see just after the junction of red, blue, and green? Which is closed, if the handle was put on correctly? And there are no other known connections on that line?

I do love abandoned pipes... without an in depth knowledge of the history of the system, one just has to stand there and contemplate. Been there, done that.

If there are no other connections on that line, I would be very much inclined to say that the ball valve is leaking by slightly. They do sometimes. You can try moving the handle some (it may spray some water out of the end!) to see if it is really completely closed; it may not be.

In any event, I see no particular harm in capping off the line -- and if there are no other connections, taking it out completely leaving just a stub after that ball valve. Leave a good stub. It might come in handy someday for something else.