Hot Water, girlfriend freaking-now what???

btc

Folks, thanks for any perspective you can offer. My girlfriend just bought (two weeks ago) a 1937 small brick home with a hot water heating system-thin tube radiators, elevated expansion tank--a pretty basic design from what I can tell. Boiler is original, gas, Hydrotherm, with 100,000 btu input. This small house and boiler are pristine condition, which is why I encouraged her to go ahead and buy it.

The problem occured earlier tonight--for some reason, cant get the boiler to stop! Home warranty company service guy (during phone call) believes the boiler gas cylinoid or valve into the burners has stuck in open position. Neither thermostat (Honeywell T-87) nor main electrical breaker will stop burners. We can turn heat off/on by opening/shutting the main gas valve inside the boiler, while leaving on the separate pilot gas valve.

She has a call into one of the pros on this site but we may not be able to reach them until Monday?

Until I can get someone out here, is this safe? Am willing to go thru inconvenience to get a pro to visit. Home warranty company is calling this a preexisting condition so I encouraged girlfriend to get an old system pro if she has to pay for it herself. Also, if it is the gas cylinoid, any sense if this is a repairable item vs replace entire boiler? Like I said, her boiler is in pristine condition and everthing was working great until tonight.

Have read you guys for several years now and used much of knowledge/servics for my own one pipe steam system (thanks Steamhead). Any help appreciated. Regards, Brian

Steamhead

The gas \"solenoid\" valve

is a replaceable unit. It may be combined with a pressure regulator, in that case the two are replaced as a unit.

Depending on how old the boiler is, the pilot safety system may no longer meet code. In that case it will have to be updated when the gas valve is replaced.

I wouldn't run the boiler this way. It's too easy to get distracted and forget to turn the burners off. Shut it down. Get a pro to fix it, this is not a DIY job.

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jim lockard

run away

Brian --TURN IT OFF If that boiler or any other heating appliance can not be saftly and properly controlled turn if off. Until you can get a pro to check it out. Stay safe J.Lockard

tim smith_2

safe????

No, shut the gas and power off to it now, under correct conditions the pilot could go out and then spill tons of raw gas out into house!

Mike T., Swampeast MO

One thing to look for...

...you just may have one of the REALLY old gas valves that have "automatic" and "manual" settings. On the ones I've seen the switch is a little thumbwheel coming through a slot. Markings may be hard to read or worn off, but I think they read "auto" and "on".

If you see such a switch change its position and see if the burner stops firing. If so, you can use the system, but watch it for a while and STILL CALL SOMEONE ASAP! That type of gas valve should be replaced pronto!!!

If you see the switch and moving it doesn't stop the fire, shut everything down!

If it seems sort of "tricky" and you have to hold the little wheel down for a while or similar, STILL SHUT IT DOWN as it could malfunction again at any time!!

Andy N.

gas valve

It sounds like you have one of the old manual open gas valves. these valves have a lever on top which allowed the homeowner to get heat when the power was out. This lever had two positions, on and auto. the lever should be in the "auto" position. When the lever is in the "on" position all of the safetys are bypassed which creates an extremely dangerous situation. (as well as way too much heat)

What many homeowners and technicians don't realize is that the pilot is proven through a separate switch in the boiler compartment. The thermocouple fails or the pilot goes out, and when the tech/homeowner re-lights the pilot nothing happens. They see the lever on top of the gas valve and turn it "on". when the boiler runs they pick up their tools and leave. The problem is that the burner will not turn back off. hence the danger.

Turn the lever off, let the thermostat take over. if the burner does not come back on look for the "baso" switch and push the reset button on it. this will latch the pilot and allow the thermostat and safetys to control the burner again. Then on Monday have that valve replaced. Any time I service a boiler with one of these valves I replace the valve. I have seen too many of these things put the homeowner on the brink of disaster.

just my honest opinion,
Andy N.

btc

Much thanks to all for the input. I am going to print out all the responses and go over to her place this am. Believe me, getting a pro over there asap is priority 1. I was just uncomfortable going with the home warranty plumber vs someone who has "old" heating system references. Much thanks. Brian

btc

You guys were right--the gas solenoid valve was stuck open. We got it unstuck by removing and putting back on and have called prof. service company to come and look at/replace. By the way, solenoid was made by Hook & Ackerman, Inc. Pittsburgh. Belive it was original equipment. Any of you heating historians familiar with this outfit? Thanks again for the help.

GEO_3

I love it, all these guys tell you it's unsafe and you say you're going over in the am. Better hope your girlfriend doesn't read this.

btc

Girlfriend seemed reasonably satisfied that she avoided replacing boiler, quoted at either 4000 or 5800 bucks. Far easier to replace the gas solenoid valve, no? You could eat breakfast off of the boiler in this house. I am not a pro, but this site and folks who contribute here just saved her 5 grand in needless boiler replacement [thank you!]--all she had was a stuck solenoid valve. The two companies that tried to sell her new boiler because valve "couldnt be replaced or repaired" come across as a little opportunistic at best...

Steamhead

That's a real old Hydrotherm!

I think it was the first small gas boiler.

Later (I think) Ackerman without Hook marketed the "Ack-o-matic" which was similar.

I still see these occasionally. They held up pretty well.

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