hot water boiler 2 PSI

SomeTradesJack

So, with the help of a plumber friend who did remote diagnostics (he's slammed with no heat calls & couldn't come by), I discovered low water in my system as the cause of much slamming, banging, and water gurgling. Not sure why make-up water wasn't introduced into the system. Valve was open.



As shown in pic, not a sophisticated filling system. Besides troubleshooting the valve, I obviously need auto filler and LWCO. And a new pressure gauge b/c the built-in on the ol' Burnham is long gone. Anything else come to mind from the experts?

JohnNY

That's a Fill-trol.
Here's the replacement:
https://www.supplyhouse.com/Amtrol-109-1-Model-109-Fill-Trol-w-Valve-2-Gallon-Volume
You're welcome.

WMno57

You can add water to your system through the boiler drain valve. Use a female to female washing machine hose. Add garden hose if needed to get to a domestic water spigot.

JimP

Remove the bladder tank and check the pressure at the air inlet. Fill it to a common level (12-15 lbs.). The bladder tank might be okay and the fill valve will work fine when you put it back on. If the tanks bad it will be full of water and very heavy.

hot_rod

You have a Fil Trol tank and valve. The fill valve is built into the brass fitting. It's probably stuck.
Not my favorite set up and it takes a special tank.

Ideally you should have backflow preventer also.

EBEBRATT-Ed

For now leave the water shut off. use a garden hose with a female adapter to fill the system through the boiler drain to 12-15 psi as @WMno57 said.

Also get a 0-30 pressure gauge with a hose adapter fitting on it to install on your boiler drain to check the pressure against the boiler gauge

Dave Carpentier

I had trouble with system pressure at the start of this season. The good folks here pointed out that I have a Fil-Trol. With a spare port on my manifold open, I whacked the fil trol brass piece a few times and black water came out at the manifold port. Then the system pressurized properly. I think I just vibrated the crud stuck on the Fil-trol inlet screen so that enough of it flowed thru and cleared the screen (a little). Not a "fix", but it got me going.

SomeTradesJack

Thanks for the input. I had previously purchased a screw-on gauge, which is how I found the 2 PSI reading. I constructed a female-female hose to fill and filled from other boiler (I know--not ideal because of putting the crud from one system into the other, but other boiler has fast fill setup).

However, both boilers lack backflow prevention (probably wasn't code back in the day). From what I've been reading on here, looks like low water cutoff is also in order. Two old systems, with 2-1/2" cast iron pipe that really feel great when you hit your head against one.

Tank is actually a Fill-Trol 110. I'll take it off and see what I get. And how heavy it is.