Water hammer sight glass full

creger.robert · February 4

creger.robert · February 4

pig tail cool to touch

cut in at 1 psi

Jamie Hall · February 5

I see some rather odd piping. I see a boiler.

I do not see a sight glass…

But if the sight glass is full, either the boiler is too full or the sight glass isn't functioning properly, and neither is good. If the boiler is too full, I'm not over surprised that there might be some water hammer.

So as a first step, lower the water level to where it belongs, and verify that the sight glass is working…

EdTheHeaterMan · February 5

Interesting piping design. this part appears to be an attempt as a Hartford Loop. The Hartford Loop is supposed to have the "Close Nipple" located about 2" below the operating water line (leaving the safety zone of 2" for the water level to drop before reaching that trap that prevents the boiler from loosing all the water as a result of a broken wet return pipe.

That close nipple appeats to be about 18" above the lowest save water level. So for condensate water to return to the boiler from that wet return, that water line must be really high.

The old boiler that this Utica replaces must have been a tall Snowman type of boiler, or a rear flue Coal boiler where the water line was much higher. I'm thinking the original boiler was installed some time after the boiler insurance companies required Hartford Loops. 1930s maybe?

It also looks like that Utica is not brand new, So this has been a problem for some time.