N/A

CSRD

Grallert

Keeping the temp up isn't going to help. The steam is still going to condense, that's it's job. Increasing the pressure is just wrong. It's likely the boiler is tossing water up into the piping when it boilers and that water is not getting back to the boiler correctly. Can you post so pictures of the "new" boiler and the piping around it?

CSRD

ethicalpaul

The piping above the header isn't really right but it should be able to perform OK.

I would suspect the water quality and also the water level is quite high. One or both of these may be resulting in water being "carried over" up into the header and the rest of your system.

Please watch the boiler at the start of a call for heat and see if the water level drops more than about 1/2". If it does, that's a strong indication of carryover/surging which can definitely cause banging and other problems.

Looks like a counterflow installation which does make the piping size more critical, but again, I think your existing piping can perform OK even though it's not right.

BobC

Sounds like that contractor does not understand steam. The piping has issues but I don't think that is youe problem. This is a one pipe steam system so pipe pitch is important, check all your pipes in the basement and see if they consistently pitch back to the boiler.

Does the water line in the sight glass jump around when it's making steam. If so there is oil in the water and the boiler has to be skimmed - drain and refilling it will not help, it needs a nice slow hot skim to float any oill out of the boiler. If that seems to work but the boiler starts to bang again after a couple of days it needs to be skimmed again.

Bob

bmma

If the boiler is new, I'd be willing to bet that they didn't skim it correctly, or at all. Oil floating on the water in the boiler can definitely cause the problems you are experiencing.

Firstlook

my 2 cents

The water level in sight glass looks a little high.

Check for leaks especially Look at each radiator valve control for leaks

I have the same steam boiler and its was the radiator steam valves leaking and you get the awful air hammering.

Jamie Hall

You mention that your HVAC company seems to be out of ideas. I'm not sure they ever had any…

First, get your pressure down — the cutout pressure should be less than 2 psig. That should be easy enough to do.

Second, if they put "something" in the boiler to break up clogs etc. etc. you need to empty the boiler completely (when it's cold!) and flush it with clean water a couple of times and refill it with fresh water. Some advocate a small amount of treatment, such as 8 Way, to control the pH — but always much less than the bottle says — and some folks don't.

Then skim the boiler as has been mentioned above.

While you are doing all that, wander around the basement and check, as best you can, that all the piping is pitched so that any condensate which gets into it can drain back out to the boiler somehow. You don't want any pooling.

Now there is a bit of bad news: the vents which were spitting murky water may have been damaged by that murky water. If you find that they don't close properly, you may need to replace them — but only with quality. The vents in the Big Box store are not good enough.

CSRD

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1835239#Comment_1835239

I just turned it on and it went all the way from the top to almost all the way to the bottom of the glass. The water when it went down also was foamy on top.

I don't know if that's because I turned it on after being off for a while(we haven't been able to tolerate the noise).

ethicalpaul

no that’s not why. Off time shouldn’t affect anything

The water probably has oils in it. It needs to be skimmed