First time changing boiler pressure gauge

elispiro

We moved into a Long Island steam-heated house in the summer and I'm working on getting the system in shape.

We had a guy come from a local company to do maintenance on our boiler. One thing he noticed was that our standard 0-30 pressure gauge was showing levels slightly over 15 PSI! But since the pressuretrol seemed to be cutting out reasonably quickly, and when he opened the relief valve while the gauge was at 5 PSI and nothing came out, he figured that the gauge must be broken.

From my reading the helpful posts here, I know that the best for me to do would be to clean the pressuretrol pigtail and add a low-pressure gauge there. But that's intimidating project since I've never adjusted any hardware on the boiler.

An easier starter job is to replace the existing gauge -- if all is well and it's true that the old gauge was busted, then the new gauge shouldn't show readings much higher than the pressuretrol's 2 PSI cutout setting. Voila!

I have a Burnham Independence boiler and I got this gauge that looks to be the right fit: https://www.supplyhouse.com/Burnham-109707-01-Steam-Pressure-Gauge-for-IN-INPV-Boilers

My question is, after removing the old gauge, do I need anything more than a few wraps of PTFE tape around the new gauge to ensure it won't leak? And how should I make sure that the gauge is sufficiently tightened onto the boiler?

Scary photo of 17 PSI pressure reading attached...

Thanks for your advice!

Big Ed_4

Two wraps of tape tighten to snug , then turn to level face.

espire

(This is the OP but I accidentally made two accounts)

Thanks Big Ed! I tried my best to take off the old gauge with my channel locks but it wouldn't budge. There is also so much hardware around the gauge, and it's so close to the boiler wall, that it's not easy to get decent leverage.

Maybe in the end I'll leave the gauge change to a professional and instead work on inspecting whether the pressuretrol pigtail is clear.

ethicalpaul

When you take the pressuretrol off of the pigtail to check it, you can add a Tee and a couple nipples and add a gauge to alongside the pressuretrol.

Big Ed_4

You need to use a wrench . There should be a flat to grab behind the gauge , . It is brass it will come out.

espire

Ed, thanks for the tip that I am using the wrong tool. All I have is a tiny IKEA adjustable crescent wrench which will probably do no better than the pliers, but I'll look into getting a non-adjustable set and give it another go.

Thanks Paul, that is good advice and I've seen photos of similar setups on this site. I just ordered a Bluefin low-pressure gauge along with a variety of 1/4" tee, elbow, and nipple pieces that should be good for the job. I even included a "union" from a tip I saw on another thread, so that I won't have to disconnect the pressuretrol's wires to take it off the pigtail. Though with your suggested setup the union should probably go before the first tee.

We'll see how it goes... working close to the boiler is intimidating but I understand all the pieces enough that it should be difficult for me to mess something up.

Captbutch

for 1/4 some 440's are a lil big, but the blue handles have been good to a lot of guys. Go down to your local tool shop and feel the blue handles you like best and buy those. They don't cost much either. they should have the actual words Channel Lock etched on them. I have knipex, but I use them for all sort's of stuff that isn't threading connections, and they slip about as much as any wrench. The blue handles have wider heads and are more forgiving to start out with imo. always hold back. When you're taking it apart put the bottom wrench and the top wrench bottom handles facing eachother. Hold back on the pipe, and squeeze the pliers gripping the gauge into the other set of pliers. like you're using heavy hedge shears, but one hand is holding the pipe firmly in place.

when making it back up you'll know when it's tight because you can feel the connection make up through the wrenches. old head wisdom. ed's right. don't use too much tape. The threads make the seal. not the tape. good luck. you got this.

Captbutch

Oh and one more thing. IF you don't know what making up feels like and wanna figure that out buy a 1/2 shoulder nipple and a 1/2 coupling and put them together and take them apart until you know for sure. good to practice taping on too tbh. sorry if this is od.

espire

Thanks everybody for your help so far.

I received my package of brass fittings and low-pressure gauge and there is plenty of variety. But things are always more complicated than they seem. I went to the boiler to start planning what to do, and I noticed that the pressuretrol wire has very little slack. It looks like I would have trouble putting a tee and a short nipple there, never mind a union. Photo attached.

Do you have any advice on a setup that might work? I'm thinking the one thing that might work is to attach the tee's "center" to the pigtail, followed by a short nipple and then a street 90. This would minimize the extra height but it might also move the pressuretrol too far to the right, straining the wire.

Alternatively, I could try to lengthen the wires. Is there a name for the type of connection between the wires and the pressuretrol screws? If it's possible to buy an extension then that would make it really easy, but splicing with some thermostat wire would probably also do fine, right?

EdTheHeaterMan

leonz

Hello espire,

Speaking as a novice long term home owner,

it appears that your boiler needs more work than you think you need for this job.

You cannot use butt connectors and should not use thermostat wire for this wiring as it needs to be a single continuous run of BX cable and wire.

The BX cable has to have the armor cut away with a BX cutting tool to expose enough conductor with ground wire to reach the terminals in the pressuretrol.

The fork connector on the lower terminal is not fully secured under the lower terminal screw because they did not leave enough exposed wire from the BX cable to allow the fork connector to be fully clamped by the lower screw on pressuretrol.

It appears that the pressuretrol, pigtail, reducing bushing, elbow and pipe nipple were installed before the pressure gauge and the water level sight glass gauge and then the pressuretrol was wired in last.

You should have new BX cable, new 90 degree BX connectors to wire in the new longer proper length of BX cable to the pressuretrol to allow the BX cable to droop and the rise to the wiring box.

Whoever did this wiring did a sloppy job of it in my opinion as the emergency gas burner switch box should not be near the boiler and the switch plate should have 4 screws in it not two.

I would not have looped and run the BX cable behind the pressuretrol and the switch box above the emergency gas burner switch should be on a nearby wall with the gas burner emergency switch.

I would hire a steam licensed plumber for the work you need and be done with it as it is not a job for a beginner.


Yes, I am fussy.

ethicalpaul

Is BX even necessary there? My Peerless packaged boiler came with just insulated wires on that low-voltage connection.

EdTheHeaterMan

ethicalpaul said:

Is BX even necessary there? My Peerless packaged boiler came with just insulated wires on that low-voltage connection.

It all depends on what the voltage is on those wires. If that limit is 120 volt breaking the power to the transformer, then MC or BX is appropriate. If that is just low voltage going to that limit then it is unnecessary. But I don't see the relevance of the wiring to the original query. I believe they were asking about checking to see if the pigtail has a blockage and if placing a union in the piping would make removing wires unnecessary. The wires will need to be addressed regardless of the voltage.

But thanks for sharing Paul

espire

Very observant @leonz !

Unfortunately this boiler was installed before I was around. I'm curious how you can tell the order of what was wired, since e.g. the pressure gauge and sight glass don't have wires running through them.

The pressuretrol fork looks to me like it has enough slack to be properly installed as it is now, which is a shame since it was recently removed and reinstalled by a local plumber with steam expertise.

@EdTheHeaterMan the relevance of wiring is due to the short cable running to my pressuretrol, making it difficult to add the union in the first place.

I believe all the electronics around my boiler are 24v, though I can't say so for certain. There is a transformer block that the pressuretrol is wired into.

EdTheHeaterMan

espire said:

Very observant @leonz !

Unfortunately this boiler was installed before I was around. I'm curious how you can tell the order of what was wired, since e.g. the pressure gauge and sight glass don't have wires running through them.

The pressuretrol fork looks to me like it has enough slack to be properly installed as it is now, which is a shame since it was recently removed and reinstalled by a local plumber with steam expertise.

@EdTheHeaterMan the relevance of wiring is due to the short cable running to my pressuretrol, making it difficult to add the union in the first place.

I believe all the electronics around my boiler are 24v, though I can't say so for certain. There is a transformer block that the pressuretrol is wired into.

That’s why I moved the control closer and added the union on the horizontal so it didn’t get too high for the wires.   

But the BX or MC v. Low voltage wires is what I thought was irrelevant.  

I believe you will get it done satisfactorily.  I have faith in you 

leonz

espire said:

Very observant @leonz !

Unfortunately this boiler was installed before I was around. I'm curious how you can tell the order of what was wired, since e.g. the pressure gauge and sight glass don't have wires running through them.

The pressuretrol fork looks to me like it has enough slack to be properly installed as it is now, which is a shame since it was recently removed and reinstalled by a local plumber with steam expertise.

@EdTheHeaterMan the relevance of wiring is due to the short cable running to my pressuretrol, making it difficult to add the union in the first place.

I believe all the electronics around my boiler are 24v, though I can't say so for certain. There is a transformer block that the pressuretrol is wired into.

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I used to work on underground mining equipment for a living and it is built from the bottom up and
many repairs occur in blown hoses at the very bottom of the machines requiring them to be
disassembled to change a 2 wire high pressure hydraulic hose.

ethicalpaul

Yeah the reason I asked about the BX is because leonz was very concerned about the person being able to modify it and seemed to think it was a stopper.

espire

I had a plumber over to fix a leaking radiator union connection, so I figured I'd ask him to change out the 30 PSI high-pressure gauge while he was here anyway, to give me some piece of mind that the boiler was running at low pressure. It was a real struggle for him, so I'm glad I didn't do it myself!
Thankfully I can now verify that the pressuretrol is doing its job just about perfectly.
The old high-pressure gauge is a sight to behold... on its back connection where there should be a pinhole to take in the boiler's pressure was just a big mound of corrosion!
I still intend to work on adding the union and low-pressure gauge but the temperatures are getting very low and it might be prudent to wait until the deepest winter is behind us.
Thanks everybody for your advice and I will certainly update this thread with a photo of my improved pressuretrol piping whenever I get it done.