steam boiler problems

tim from Reed Wright

New burnham independence boiler just finished, one pipe system, steam vents on each radiator, end of main vent. All vents working, and piping is per spec. ???? when boiler gets near starting to build steam pressure, level in glass is getting pushed down and eventually fill valve fills and we find that boiler will become full beyond gauge glass after a few cycles, ps. temps very moderate right now in Seattle. End of main vent working and so are rad vents. Note: smaller house. 2" main around perimeter of basement. Any Ideas Wallies? Thanks in advance Tim Smith

Unknown

All new vents

on the system - I would guess the returns might be clogged ? But you said when it starts to build up steam pressure the level goes down ? Is there an equalizer pipe on there ? Sounds like it might be backing out the return pipe . And what about the "A" dimension ? At least 28 inches from the drop of the end of the header to the water line ? We have seen this happen also - it gets to around 1 LB of pressure and the water just disappears like magic - happened a few times on the Peerless ECT . We use the Uni-Match feeder now -it has a very long built in delay and different size orifices to slow down the fill rate .

Unknown

A boiler that is too big

acts like that, too.

Noel

tim from Reed Wright

steam boiler problem

Noel, we have been discussing that, we know the load calc is within margins. but we are looking at how much radiation we figured on in job. We did a quick test on the size issue and cut back input to maybe 75% and the drastic fluctuation went away, this may support size problem. ?? any ideas if this was the case.

Unknown

Big vent on the main

And see if the firing rate can be dropped a little, from the manufacturer.

Insulate the piping as much as possible, too. Condensing water inside the mains cuts the open cross section area, makes waves, and builds back pressure before the vents are shut. I believe that when that happens, the air at the far end vents and the water heads out toward the vent through the returns, a little. Combine that back pressure with making extra steam, and it seems to be just enough to push the water back out.

tim from Reed Wright

vent on main

Noel, thanks for the input, I thought of putting larger vent on main last night while talking to my partner who is on job. I think that will be 1st agenda today.

Thomas Powell

boilor

Did you clean the boilor after installing?

Steamhead

If that's a \"wrap-around\" main

it needs lots of venting. You probably have at least 50 feet of 2-inch pipe in that main. That's worth a Gorton #2 vent- and more if the main is longer. You want to get the air out of the main in about a minute, measured from the time the boiler starts producing steam.

www.gorton-valves.com

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

tim from Reed Wright

oh yes

skim skim skim

tim from Reed Wright

steam vent

?? I have no gordon vent catalogs, what does it compare to like a Hoffman 75? Thanks for all the input guys

tim from Reed Wright

water level problems

continuation, got it to stabilize today, interesting turn of event via old friend "84 year old mechanical engineer helped" . will give update later tonight or early am. Will be interested in response to what we did.