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boiler ph

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terry_6
terry_6 Member Posts: 17
in THE MAIN WALL
Any recomendations on boiler additives to lower the ph of a 1 pipe steam system. It's currently 13+

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    could use

    swimming pool chemicals. available just about anywhere. mix it with water then pour into boiler. you dont usually have to even know a scientific name as its usually marked PH DOWN on the bottle. its what i use. there is also a ph up.. you may want to pick up a jar of both in case you overshot the mark. hope this helps
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    High Ph

    Before you do anything you had better find out what caused this to happen.

    Ph above 11 usually is accompnied by sudsing in the boiler.

    This would make the water level very unstable and the you could have or should have short cycling.

    To be safe re-check the Ph of the water with an electronic Ph sensor. Some times one extra drop of re-agent gets into the test device and the test is not accurate.


    Jake
  • terry_6
    terry_6 Member Posts: 17
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    Thanks, the only thing I can think of is that after cleaning the boiler I didn't flush the chemicals out well enough; leftover caustic soda would do it. I'm continuing the flush now; feed water ph is 7.5...
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    jacob, could you expain how the short cycling

    takes place with high ph, i think i ran into that last week. perhaps. i had a boiler short cycle and wasn't sure why. i first looked for air problems, then i drained, refilled and skimmed the boiler. problem was gone then but i wasn't sure what had happened or for that matter exactly how i fixed it. it was one of those blind luck things.
  • hr
    hr Member Posts: 6,106
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    TSP (ph 11) and other

    soap based cleaners could cause the high ph you are seeing. I'd flush a few more times and see what happens. I think it would be better to flush out the cleaners than buffer the ph with the soap still in there.

    Check with the boiler manufacture, on hydronic system they recommend a ph of 7.5-8.5. Not sure about steam, however.

    hot rod

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  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
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    pH steam

    8-9 is good, virtually the same. If you can, check the condensate coming back for pH. The boiler water is a collection of everything in the system, and the returning condensate is sometimes different in pH. The boiler water can be flushed and changed, or treated if it isn't where it should be.

    Noel
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