Boiler turning on and off not feeding water

melo

Hi,

Crown steam boiler owner. This morning I noticed that I couldn't see any water in the sight glass. has happened before and it was due to clog, etc. I turned the boiler off and emptied out about a 5 gallon bucket of water. Afterwards, I fed it a little bit and turned it back on waiting for the LWCO to turn on and automatically fill it to the proper level.

The LWCO didn't turn on and the boiler was running for a good minute or two before I turned it off. I tried to take off the LWCO but I couldn't get the probe out to see if it was dirty. I was worried that I may break something if I used too much force with wrench.

Anyways, I decided to just fill the boiler manually then pour out the water, to basically get cleaner water to the probe and clean it that way. I then rehooked the strobe and turned the boiler power and thermostat on.

This time it was a little weird... I feel like I had this issue a few weeks ago but it went away after turning the boiler off and on from main switch.

Anyways weirdness:

The boiler vent damper is in closed position and the boiler LWCO light is on then the vent damper goes to open position and the LWCO light turns off. When it turns off, the LWCO light turns back on before the vent damper opens again, then the LWCO light turns off. It's like a weird cycle.. I ended up turning the boiler off manually feeding it to the proper level (based on sight glass). The boiler continued normal operations.


Here are my questions.

1) Is it safe to operate? I will have someone check the water level in sight glass.

2) Is it possible that the sight glass level disappears due to how boiler is piped? As in, there may be proper water but hard to see in sight glass?

3) What is going on with my LWCO? Do I take a wrench and just open up the probe like I wanted to? I didn't want to manhandle it during Christmas as stores are closed and getting a specialist is going to be a pain.

I've attached pictures of my LWCO wiring. I've also attached pictures of my boiler's piping.

Please provide me with some guidance and expertise... I want to make sure boiler is safe for me and my family to use.

Merry Christmas and thank you in advance.

Jamie Hall

Normally I would say that the boiler is not safe to operate with a funky low water cutoff. And, in fact, it isn't. However.

IF you verify, manually, that the sight glass reflects the water level in the boiler -- best done by filling it slowly and watching the sight glass, and then emptying it slowly and watehing the sight glass in both cases to ensure that the glass is responding...

AND IF you operate the boiler only when there is a responsible person there watching the sight glass at all times and able to shut the boiler off if the water level in the glass drops to within an inch of the bottom of the glass...

Then you may be able to operate it.

Under NO condition should the boiler person leave the boiler while it is running. Not to use the john. Not to answer the 'phone. Not to get a beer. Not to play games on his or her phone. He or she has one job and one job only: keep track of the water level.

ethicalpaul

I agree 100% with Jamie. Your description of its behavior is too full of weird occurrences to trust it without an attendant.

melo

So how can I check if the LWCO is working properly? 

Anyway to check properly? 

Should I remove the probe and clean it or use some Hercules steam cleaner? 

Jamie Hall

melo said:

So how can I check if the LWCO is working properly? 

Anyway to check properly? 

Should I remove the probe and clean it or use some Hercules steam cleaner? 

I didn't suggest checking the LWCO. Do not even THINK of running that boiler without a full time attendant until you get a technician familiar with steam out there to check over the LWCO, the feeder, the sight glass, and anything else he or she can think of.

melo

It’s going to be running tonight that’s for sure. It’s way too cold, I made sure the water was stable all day. It was working fine and the water level was stable. I will try to clean the probe tomorrow, I also asked for availability of the technician but iunno.

melo

I think I fixed it… it was either a loose wire or clogged probe. I couldn’t take the probe out but I was really trying. I want to think all the banging trying to fit the wrench in probably dislodged whatever may have been on the probe.

Anyways, I tried the testing. Lowered the water level and the cut off stopped the boiler and fed water. I also had thermostat off and I drained some water and the low water light came on and the boiler fed water after the 2 minute wait.