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Water consumption in extreme cold weather

steam2801
steam2801 Member Posts: 1
in Strictly Steam

100 year old house in Cleveland, Ohio. Steam (boiler) heat. Boiler is working constantly with a -7 temp outside. Question is what is the normal water consumption of a working boiler? We do not have auto-feed after it misfired years ago and flooded the boiler, so I check the level every day and feed it myself. I have been topping it off every day in the extreme cold which is done by holding the feeder button for about 12 seconds twice a day. There are no visible leaks and boiler was serviced last August. At that time we were told it looked good. It's about 20 years old. System is one pipe return. There is some spitting from vents when working hard.

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Comments

  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,646

    What's the pressuretrol set at? Vents shouldn't spit. Period.

    Picture of the boiler and sight glass please.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,365

    Really hard to say… but 12 seconds on a typical feeder every day doesn't sound wildly excessive. What pressure is the boiler running at? You may be losing steam through minor leaks at valve stems or some tired vents — or unions. You'd never see it.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 7,061

    12 seconds!?!

    How low on the glass is it after 1 day?

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

    delcrossv
  • AdmiralYoda
    AdmiralYoda Member Posts: 696

    For perspective I have a 150 year old house with a 44 year old Peerless boiler. I go through about an inch of water on the site glass per month during the coldest month of the year.

    I topped it off a week ago before this cold spell and it has barely budged, maybe a quarter inch?

    It is working its butt off right now, but keeping the house warm at 68 degrees.

    ethicalpaul

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