Adding water

Scott Brink

How much new water should I be adding to my boiler and how often. I'm in Mass. and the temperature has been bitter cold, and I've been adding water to the system pretty much every day. Is that normal, or should I be looking for a leak somewhere?

[Deleted User]

i think you should look for a leak,

if the water isn't returning to the boiler, where did it go?

Scott Brink

where to look

How would I find the leak? I haven't found any puddles of water, or evidence of leaks around the pipes.

Also, doesn't the system loose water just by running (evaporation, steam lost through the vents, etc)?

[Deleted User]

is the system

one pipe steam, two pipe steam, and do you have any underground return pipes?

Scott Brink

one pipe system

It is a one pipe system, and the return runs along the basement floor, not underground.

[Deleted User]

if you see no visible leaks,

you may want to replace air vents..also check the main vent..do these actually shut off or do they hiss,chatter,hiss,etc. in an attempt to shut off..if you listen closley to the air vent, when the steam hits it you should hear a click, and then silence.

[Deleted User]

also,

and dont do this on a hot boiler, wait till its been off a couple hours, on a milder day, fill the boiler up with water to the header pipe to see if youve developed a hole above the boilers waterline...if water appears on the floor or drips into the firebox, there is a hole..this would send steam into your chimney. after the test, drain it back to its normal level and steam it for a half hour to drive out the new oxygen that came in with the water.

Scott Brink

I'll try that

I will try that. A number of the vents have been hissing very loudly, I'll have to check to hear the click.

Should I replace vents now, or should I wait until the spring? I assume I can replace the vents now when the burner isn't fired up.

Scott Brink

just confirming

The header is the horizontal pipe just above the boiler, approx. 24 inches above the waterline?

How do I know when the water level gets to the header, or will it be pretty obvious?

By milder, do you mean late winter/early spring or a warm day now? I'm not sure we have one of those days coming up too soon.

Steve Paul

Adding water

every day indicates a real problem.If you don't see any obvious leaks and the air vents are shutting tightly, I would suspect a leaking boiler. The quickest (quicktest)to test for a leak is to manually raise the water level above the top of the boiler, if the boiler has a leaking section you will soon see water on the floor. Just be careful not to raise the water level to the radiators on the first floor, this may cause a flood. After testing, restore the proper water level by draing down at the boiler drain valve into a bucket. Some times a leak above the water line won't show up as a wet spot on the floor, it may just blow steam up the chiminey.

Scott Brink

Boiler drain

Is the boiler drain the same one I use to blow-down from, or should I be looking for another drain?

Also, if there is a leak in the boiler, wouldn't I see white steam from the chimney while the boiler was running through its regular cycle?

[Deleted User]

you would see steam

coming from the chimney if its a really big hole, but a smaller one may condense in the chimney before becoming apparrent..the header is the horizontal pipe, yes..you could test it now if you desire,,i would..but i'd shut off the boiler for an hour or two and SLOWLY bleed the water into the boiler to raise its level..i'm a little shy of putting in water thats 40* into a steam chest thats 212* without letting it cool a bit..

Scott Brink_2

Haven't had to fill lately

Since I read the "Now we have steam heat" book, I opened all the radiators in the house to allow all the vents to release. It really reduced the noises from the system.

Since then I haven't had to add much water to the system at all. Now just a little topping off every couple of days. Could this mean the boiler is o.k. and a couple of the vents might be faulty? Or could it be because the weather isn't as cold (no more below 0 in Mass.) the boiler isn't working as hard, so the problem isn't as bad?