All steam radiator air vents shooting water

pnm2

Hi, I just turned on my burner for the winter, and soon after all the steam radiator air vents on the bottom floor started spewing water.

Any idea what the problem could be?

I did realize after some of the valves might have been closed, but normally that wouldn’t have such an effect.

Steamhead

I bet the system is overfilled. Can you see the water level in the glass tube on the boiler?

pnm2

I can’t tell if it’s full or empty, but I can’t see the level line. I did immediately turn off the burner (by now about an hour ago), so perhaps that had an effect on where the level would be?

pnm2

(It does look empty to me though.)

neilc

the distortion of the mc thru the siteglass suggests otherwise,
the gage with pressure on it also,
shut off the feed valve,
drain the boiler,
figure out why it flooded,

neilc

post a generally wide picture of the boiler, floor to ceiling, from a angle or 2,
water off and drain first

pnm2

Here are a few pics of the whole furnace. So you guys think this issue is coming from the furnace, and not from the radiators? (I guess if it was affecting almost all lower-floor radiators it would make sense that the share a common problem from the furnace.) if it is indeed the furnace, maybe I should call a pro since I’m less confident in troubleshooting that area than the radiators themselves.

neilc

that's a steam boiler, the siteglass and controls are a giveaway,
the boiler and siteglass water level should only be about 1/2, to 2/3rds full,
Your full up to the radiators,
Do you see your way to let water out?
it's in the back between the 2 boilers, or along that back wall,
get some piping pictures there,
and post a wide angle from the top of the boiler to the ceiling.

what's the second boiler about?

pnm2

Is this where I should drain water from? Should I drain it completely?

pnm2

I just noticed water is dripping and maybe even steaming out of here. Could this be related? As far as I can tell this connects to the hot water heater and not the furnace. Any idea how to get it to stop? For now I turned off the water heater.

pnm2

pnm2

Also, the second furnace is for the finished basement, unrelated 

pnm2

I just shut off this valve for now, which I think is the feed valve. Does that seem right?

pnm2

All of a sudden water is spurting from these vents even though I shut everything off  I’m guessing this button pipe is where I’m supposed to drain from? That’s what I’m doing now frantically

pnm2

Okay, now that the water is nearly drained I’m seeing the level in the gauge, so that seems like a step in the right direction. Now the question is is there something that needs to be fixed so that doesn’t happen again, or was it simply a matter of draining that water? I suspect the former, since what would cause so much water to get up there in the first place?

neilc

keep draining til the site glass is an inch from the bottom, you're not there yet, it will be many buckets.
use the bucket and valve in the 1st picture of this last series,
Yes, that's the feed valve, leave it off till 1" in siteglass,
that is a basement main vent, brass, that started dripping, keep draining,

can not tell from pictures what that wet corroded pipe bottom was coming from, post more pictures showing where that ties into

neilc

and I'm not sure where that last drain picture ties in,
same, post more pictures showing where that ties into

neilc

that fill valve you turned off, are there any other valves on that loop around the autofill?
they need to be off also

pnm2

The corroded pipe seems to lead to the hot water heater. Makes me think this is just a completely coincidental unrelated issue. For now I also shut off the hot water heater, as well as the main water line to the house.

Steamhead

@pnm2 , where are you located? I think you need a steam man, and we might know someone.

neilc

you're havin a bad day there,
That capped Tee wants a plumber, real soon,
you should have another valve on the cold going into the heater,
close that, reopen the main, then you can still flush a toilet

neilc

pnm2 said:

Is this where I should drain water from? Should I drain it completely?

Yes

pnm2

Okay, I’ve drained all the water. There was one other valve in that loop with autofill, but it was already closed. I’m located in Newark, NJ.

pnm2

Any advise on how I can troubleshoot this furnace issue now that the water is drained?

neilc

i missed a refresh or 2,

pnm2 said:

Okay, now that the water is nearly drained I’m seeing the level in the gauge, so that seems like a step in the right direction. Now the question is is there something that needs to be fixed so that doesn’t happen again, or was it simply a matter of draining that water? I suspect the former, since what would cause so much water to get up there in the first place?

with the water feed and power off,
drain down more till there's just a 1/4-1/2 inch showing,
you want to test the LWCO and Autofill,

keep the power off, turn on the water, water doesn't rise,
correct?
you don't want it to rise with out power to the fill,

now,
raise the thermostat like you want heat,
turn on the power at the boiler,
the LWCO should light up red LED on top, indicating Low Water,
wait a moment or 5 plus minutes, there may be delays on the refill,
the refill should turn on and, well, refill the boiler,
to about 1/3 - 1/2 siteglass,
during this, the RED LED will change to Green, or go out, or?
and the boiler should fire,
If anything doesn't happen as above, you need repairs,

while boiler is firing,
water may rise or fall a bit(an inch) in site glass,
if water rises to the upper 1/3 to the top of the glass,
then sounds like the fill is leaking, and needs service.

as Steamhead wrote, get a pro in there from this site if you can,
there also a store where booksare sold, or on Amazon,
look for "We Got Steam Heat"
it's a great primer for homeowners, Steamowners.

Don't run the boiler if the LWCO doesn't light up red and keep the burner off when water level is low, (Red LED on )

pnm2

I can’t for the life of me figure out where the valve is that isolates that corroded pipe, if such a valve even exists. So I’m going to have to keep the main off and deal with all of it once a plumber gets here. Man, what a day. Thank you to everyone for your help.

Steamhead

pnm2 said:

Okay, I’ve drained all the water. There was one other valve in that loop with autofill, but it was already closed. I’m located in Newark, NJ.

Try @EzzyT , @clammy or @JohnNY - all good Steam Men in your general area.

pnm2

Just want to thank everyone once again for helping me out. I got a guy in here this morning, and after replacing the corroded pipe he simply refilled the furnace with water and got it running and everything seems to be in order. I asked what he thought might have caused it to flood and he says no idea, but recommended that next year before I turn it on to drain the system a bit first just in case.

ChrisJ

pnm2 said:

Just want to thank everyone once again for helping me out. I got a guy in here this morning, and after replacing the corroded pipe he simply refilled the furnace with water and got it running and everything seems to be in order. I asked what he thought might have caused it to flood and he says no idea, but recommended that next year before I turn it on to drain the system a bit first just in case.

I wouldn't drain the system just in case.
I'd keep an eye on the gauge glass. That's why it's there.

ethicalpaul

Your guy's lack of curiosity or concern is alarming

pecmsg

ethicalpaul said:

Your guy's lack of curiosity or concern is alarming

Very Concerning!

Dan_NJ

Based on some of the questions you've been asking it did just occur to me, is this your first heating season with this boiler? Are you new to the building? The reason I ask is because some folks will fill their system up well above the level of the gauge glass for the off season so that the water line is not inside the boiler itself during the summer months, to help prevent corrosion inside the boiler sections. If this was your first experience with this one perhaps it's been over-filled like, intentionally, since last May give or take?

The only time this ever happened to me it was a leaky fill valve that caused it (not a ball valve either), someone had added water and failed to crank it down sufficiently to fully stop the flow.

pnm2

This is not my first season with the furnace or the house. I am noticing now that the glass gauge is completely full, though the furnace hasn’t been on since it’s currently warm outside.

This is not normal, right? I should always see a water line regardless of whether or not the furnace is working, correct?

This makes me wonder if the auto fill is malfunctioning, and if maybe a temporary solution is to shut that valve off and control the water level manually. Thoughts?

Dan_NJ

The only way it's filling up like this is via a fill valve somewhere along the line not closing completely. The level should be pretty much static without the auto feed in the mix. As long as the low water cutoff is working the auto feed can be taken out of the equation. Doing it manually is not a big deal especially now before the really cold weather gets going.

ethicalpaul

Also, friendly tip: you may get more respect from your contractors if you refer to it as a "boiler" and not a "furnace"

pnm2

Ha, thanks. I typically did in the past but second-guessed myself. Will do moving forward.