Site glass is always dirty leaking buried return

fbar10705

Hello,

The sight glass on my boiler is always dirty , it’s loosing water , i am sure one of the buried returns is leaking , any suggestions on how to locate this problem ? thank you in advance

ethicalpaul

If it loses water even when the boiler is not running, then you know the leak is below the water line, likely in your buried return. If you have more than one buried return it may be difficult to determine which one, but on the other hand, if one of them is leaking, then all of them are probably close to leaking so you should consider replacing all of them.

And I would replace them with ones on or above the floor, copper.

As you noted, the constant loss of boiler water requiring constant replenishment of fresh water causes a lot of corrosion in your boiler, so this issue should be given attention.

Jamie Hall

One leak in a buried return? It will be two… then four… then…

Replace it. Run it above ground if possible.

EBEBRATT-Ed

You need a cat or a dog or bare feet. Not that it matters as the others have said if you have buried returns and one is leaking, they probably all need replacing.

But to find a leak run the boiler and let the cat or dog find the warm spot on the floor or walk around with bare feet.

ethicalpaul

I admit I don't really understand why a warm spot indicates a leak…the whole return is full of that same temperature water constantly running during a call for heat and should make a warm spot all along it even without a leak.

109A_5

Hello fbar10705,

Thermal camera. Once the condensate starts to warm the floor the heat signature along the pipe may change at the leak and the heat signature at the leaking spot may be wider compared to the rest of the pipe's path, since the condensate is dissipating into the surrounding area.