New Yorker boiler overfilling, making noise and leaking

LetsFixThis

Would appreciate some suggestions please. My radiator glass keeps overfilling when heat works for a few hours and my radiators start banging and leaking water.

Replaced all radiators, brought in 3 different Plummers and all take money, claim they fixed the issue as water is not leaking when they are there, and leave.

I keep having to drain the water half way as the glass tube gets to the rim.

The boiler is about 3 years old.

I’m in Brooklyn NY.

Boiler brand is New Yorker

Thank you.

HVACNUT

Its possible the condensate doesn't return fast enough and the feeder kicks in before the condensate gets back to the boiler. When the condensate DOES get back, it over fills. Every cycle. I'm not too familiar with steam but maybe there's an adjustable time delay in the feeder. But the returns should be clear.

Is that a Tridicator gauge?

Jamie Hall

The way it is supposed to work on your system is the low water cutoff ("CycleGard" in the first picture) is intended to send a signal to the feeder valve (black box labelled "UniMatch"in the second picture) which is supposed to feed water to the boiler if the water is low — and then stop feeding.

At a first guess I'd look at three possibilities: slow returns tricking the low water cutoff, the low water cutoff lying to you — or that feeder sticking open.

Diagnosis isn't hard. Turn the manual feed valve — on the pipe above the water feeder valve — off and keep track of the water level for a few cycles. If your problem is slow returns, the water level in the sight glass will drop while the boiler is firing, but after the boiler stops it will recover to where it was before the boiler fired. It should recover in a minute or two, but if it takes ten or fifteen minutes you have a slow return problem and one would need to look at the piping to figure out why.

If it does recover OK eventually, you will need to see if the feeder valve has a time delay on it — but I don't think that that particular design of valve does. On the other hand, if it does recover you can run the boiler with the manual valve closed, provided you check the water level in the gauge glass from time to time and make sure that it is high enough to be safe.

ethicalpaul

people constantly blame “slow returns” when what they are really experiencing is carryover.

The carryover makes the water level drop and can confuse both the person seeing it, as well as the low water cutoff

I definitely can’t say for sure what is happening here without being there, but I will say that gauge glass looks very oily…

See if the LWCO is calling for water, or if maybe the auto feeder valve is leaking by.

STEAM DOCTOR

Holy moly macaroni. Someone charged you money, to replace a radiator, because it was overfilling with water??? That is 1000% criminal. Either there is a problem getting water back to the boiler, or a problem with automatic feeder, or a bypass valve, or the low water cut off. In my findings, it is almost always a feeder problem or a manual valve issue. Relatively easy repairs.

EdTheHeaterMan

The water feed valve WFE-24V, Uni-Match Universal Water Feeder (24V) comes from the factory with a 60 second delay open. You can look to see it the DIP switch #2 is on and all the other switches are off.

If that is the case you can try to set #4 on and all the other switches off to see if that helps at all.

ethicalpaul

That's very good info, Ed. It's very helpful of you to provide it.

I will say it must be combined with observation of the boiler to see what is happening…if the autofeeder isn't calling for water these settings are irrelevant.

And if the autofeeder is calling for water due to carryover, then the water quality should be addressed as a primary focus.

EdTheHeaterMan

Here is a more gushy, borderline-sarcastic-but-still-polite version that keeps it friendly:

Oops, that top line from my AI spell checker was not supposed to be there

Thank you so much, Paul, for your incredibly kind and thoughtful comments. Your insight is always appreciated, and I couldn’t agree with you more about the importance of water quality.

Since @LetsFixThis is a relatively new steam boiler owner (all of three years of hard-earned experience), and after having paid three different plumbers to “fix” it—none of whom managed to produce the desired result—the next logical step, after trying the #4 switch, would probably be to have a truly knowledgeable steam boiler consultant such as yourself, or another seasoned and professional steam technician, take a look at the water quality.

I also find myself wondering whether that boiler has ever actually been skimmed during those three years. Somehow that detail has a way of being overlooked.

Thanks again for sharing your wisdom—it is always helpful to hear from someone who clearly understands these systems so well.

Sincerely

@EdTheHeaterMan

Jamie Hall

Have yo tried the diagnosis outline I wrote above? Not hard, and something you can do yourself… no parts required, no money.

pedmec

Please do yourself a favor and create a call for heat and sit your **** in front of that boiler and pay attention. Record everything you see. Write it down. Without proper information you going to get educated guesses. All suggestions have valid points but more information is needed to get you the correct information. We need to know how the boiler is functioning thru the whole heat call and then some. When the boiler shuts down just sit there and wait.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@LetsFixThis

Clearly you need a contractor that knows steam. There are many thet cover Brooklyn. Your paying good money for …..nothing the problem is not fixed.

Check find a contractor on this site

Or PM @Mad Dog_2 , @EzzyT or @JohnNY and there are others. At the very least yo will get your moneys worth.

Your paying money to replace radiators and that is not your problem