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Old Crane boiler (SE)

Steve Ebels
Steve Ebels Member Posts: 904
That might be this old things problem. (among others)

It's piped with the B&G100 bolted right to the boiler, pumping in. The air scoop and expansion tank are on the outlet (supply) side. The air vent opening in the casting on the top of the boiler has a 3/4" x 6" nipple in it with a cap. No air vent.

I hooked up my porta pump and mixed up some boiler cleaner, (extra stout, like Guiness) and after valving off the zones, circulated the cleaning fluid through the boiler for about 30 minutes. A strange thing happened while it was circulating. I had hooked the boiler drain to the suction side of my pump and removed the pipe cap from the top of the boiler. This ran back to the 5 gallon bucket that the pump was drawing from. It had been running for about 10-15 minutes an all of a sudden the water level in the bucket dropped by approx. 4-5". I was at a total loss as to where this water might have gone until reading your post Paul. I would dare wager that the boiler did indeed have a pocket of air trapped in it and it got pushed out finally with my purge pump going.

Thanks for the info!!

Comments

  • Steve Ebels
    Steve Ebels Member Posts: 904
    Perking noises

    I looked at a Crane natural gas boiler last night. The old gal called and said her pipes were banging LOUD!! It's natural gas, 120K input, probably 25-30 years old.

    It would fire on a call for heat and almost immeadiately I could hear it start to perk. Sounded just like a tea kettle at the point where it's about to boil or a water heater that's limed up. I'm 90% sure that's the problem here too. Question is how do you clean something like that out? This thing would run up to about 225-230 degrees after the limit shut it off at 200. I turned it down so it wouldn't overshoot so far. Why so much creep with the circulator running?
  • Dale
    Dale Member Posts: 1,317
    Pressure?

    What was the pressure? Greater pressure less spot boiling. Why a 200 set? If the pump is running is it pumping? What's the impeller look like, clogged with junk? What's the stack temp? Higher temp less heat transfer. What is the measured outlet pipe temp when the aquastat cuts the burner? What's the burner flame look like? Is the clocked input OK. Please let us know what you find.
  • jg2700
    jg2700 Member Posts: 21
    NOISE

    IS THIS A HOT WATER BOILER IF IT IS YOUR MAKEING STEAM AT THAT TEMPETURE THATS NOT GOOD FOR A HOT WATER SYSTEM .YOU WILL GET THAT NOISE OF PERCULATING MIGHT WANT TO CHANGE THE CONTROL BEFORE YOU HAVE A RUNAWAY SITUATION. HOPE THE RELIEF VALVE WORKS IF THAT HAPPENS.
  • Paul_6
    Paul_6 Member Posts: 88
    crane boilers

    have a baffle plate design,and once air gets into the top of the castings it can be a real trick to get it out, if you don't have an air vent right on the top of the boiler. when i first bought my house my crane boiler was nice and quite, but then because my circ was on the return, and one of my old boiler drains started weeping and actually started drawing in air, it would fill up the top of the castings with air and kettle pretty impressively. I solved the problem by Installing a vent in the un-used tapping right over where the return comes in, replacing the boiler drains and moving the pump to the supply. so if somthing is letting air get into that boiler it will trap at the top of the sections FOREVER ( I know) and make you crazy, and rattle every pipe in the house. as far as the over shoot in temperature, water that is right on the verge of turning to steam at 12 psi will do that , but i also find that mine tends to over shoot a little if you run the tankless a long time or on a really cold day. ( and i have mine set 140- 170 and it will top out around 200 on a long cycle). hope this helps. Paul
  • ScottMP
    ScottMP Member Posts: 5,884
    Hey Steve

    Paul may be on to something. I would tell the customer that you could try those things with the understanding that it may not correct the problem.

    My gut feeling is this is mineral deposits and you will never fully remove them. It sort of like a death rattle.

    " She's going boys ".

    Scott

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  • beefjerkie
    beefjerkie Member Posts: 1
    edited November 2013
    BTU

    HOW DO I FIND HOW AND WHERE TO GET THE BTU OFF MY BROILER FROM MY HOUSE. ITS A OLD ONE. ITS A CRANE!



    CAT#   OU-B

    SERIERS-B-A.
This discussion has been closed.