Skimming

John Overall

First,let me say I'm not a professional "wethead" just someone with big 122 year old Victorian house, whose been doing this for at least 9-10 years. Never could get the hang of skimming, despite Dan's great advice in "Lost Art.." Found a WONDERFUL product called Steam Clean, a powder you add to the boiler and it turns the water a lime green when it's clean. As it works in the boiler and circulates thru the system, it turns red as it 'loads up" with "grunge". This you drain off thru the outlet valve on the bottom of the boiler into a bucket. (I found those white plastic buckets for joint compound worked great, everything stands out against the white) The grange will precipitate to the bottom, all by itself, the water will become that beautiful green again, and you put it back in the boiler to do it's work again. You'll probably want to use a strainer, and do it carefully, so the grunge stays on the bottom,and you can then heave it. (Someone wiser than this twit will have to tell you if there might be anything dangerous to the environment.) You don't have to skim, you know when to drain it (the water turns red) you can use it again and it just goes back to work, it's the closest thing to real magic you'll find. Be sure to know the size of your boiler, and check the package. I know I needed two cans for mine. There are similar products out there, tried one or two when I couldn't find Steam Clean, but Steam Clean shone like a star.. PS No I don't work for them, never met them, just like the stuff.

APC69

Skimming Steam Boilers

What is the proper method to skim a residential steam boiler? How many times should you perform this task, and how long should this take?

John Overall

Skimming

First,let me say I'm not a professional "wethead" just someone with big 122 year old Victorian house, whose been doing this for at least 9-10 years. Never could get the hang of skimming, despite Dan's great advice in "Lost Art..".
Found a WONDERFUL product called Steam Clean, a powder you add to the boiler and it turns the water a lime green when it's clean. As it works in the boiler and circulates thru the system, it turns red as it 'loads up" with "grunge". This you drain off thru the outlet valve on the bottom of the boiler into a bucket. (I found those white plastic buckets for joint compound worked great, everything stands out against the white) The grunge will precipitate to the bottom, all by itself, the water will become that beautiful green again, and you put it back in the boiler to do it's work again. You'll probably want to use a strainer, and do it carefully, so the grunge stays on the bottom,and you can then heave it. (Someone wiser than this twit will have to tell you if there might be anything dangerous to the environment.) You don't have to skim, you know when to drain it (the water turns red) you can use it again and it just goes back to work, it's the closest thing to real magic you'll find. Be sure to know the size of your boiler, and check the package. I know I needed two cans for mine. There are similar products out there, tried one or two when I couldn't find Steam Clean, but Steam Clean shone like a star.. PS No I don't work for them, never met them, just like the stuff.

TJ_2

See \"The Lost Art of Steam Heat\"

Your boiler manuals should describe the skimming process in some detail. If you don't have them, "The Lost Art of Steam Heat" available on this site will describe general skimming procedures. It is pretty easy if you have a skim port already installed on your boiler. However, if you have to remove the plug from the skim port on your boiler, you could be in for a small project since they can be very difficult to remove from existing boilers.

Dan Law

\"clean steam\"

> First,let me say I'm not a professional "wethead"

> just someone with big 122 year old Victorian

> house, whose been doing this for at least 9-10

> years. Never could get the hang of skimming,

> despite Dan's great advice in "Lost Art..".

> Found a WONDERFUL product called Steam Clean, a

> powder you add to the boiler and it turns the

> water a lime green when it's clean. As it works

> in the boiler and circulates thru the system, it

> turns red as it 'loads up" with "grunge". This

> you drain off thru the outlet valve on the bottom

> of the boiler into a bucket. (I found those white

> plastic buckets for joint compound worked great,

> everything stands out against the white) The

> grunge will precipitate to the bottom, all by

> itself, the water will become that beautiful

> green again, and you put it back in the boiler to

> do it's work again. You'll probably want to use

> a strainer, and do it carefully, so the grunge

> stays on the bottom,and you can then heave it.

> (Someone wiser than this twit will have to tell

> you if there might be anything dangerous to the

> environment.) You don't have to skim, you know

> when to drain it (the water turns red) you can

> use it again and it just goes back to work, it's

> the closest thing to real magic you'll find. Be

> sure to know the size of your boiler, and check

> the package. I know I needed two cans for mine.

> There are similar products out there, tried one

> or two when I couldn't find Steam Clean, but

> Steam Clean shone like a star.. PS No I don't

> work for them, never met them, just like the

> stuff.

Dan Law

\"clean steam\"

Who is the manufactuer of the product? I'd like to look them up on the web to find local distributor.

[Deleted User]

Skimming

is a time consuming ordeal. In order to properly skim a newly installed boiler, I think you need to allocate at least a good 8 hour day. Sitting on an overturned 5 gallon bucket, watching water at 180 degrees F trickle out of the piping and down to the drain. It's a necessary evil, and if you don't do it right, you'll spend more than 8 hours appeasing an irate customer.

ALthough there are some magic checmials out there, the long term consequence of these products on the life expcetancy is unknown. There are no quick fixes in my book.

Do it right the first time using proven methods.

ME