Corrosion

Unknown

Ok, so I helped troubleshoot a system yesterday. The system worked fine for several years then suddenly couldn't keep up anymore. Onix stapleup (not our system!) running at 160-180 with a couple short lengths of concurrently running baseboard tied in to supplement.. one room, baseboard elsewhere. CI boiler and pumps. Staple up has a tempering valve but all water running through the radiant zone MUST go through the tempering valve in order to return to the boiler, no bypass leg. Radiant has its own pump pulling from the mixing valve...apparently this pump corroded out initially and has been replaced.

Last winter another crew went in, put in that pump, played with the piping a bit, and thoroughly flushed the system 3 or 4 times before refilling. It worked for a few weeks and then had problems again.

We checked it out and it's got a staggerring amount of rust in the water. Our theory is that its clogging the tempering valve. However it really is a lot of rust and the only way I've found so far that O2 might be getting in is through the air seperator... there are no leaks and no problem with the fill valve.

So... questions.

First, can anyone reccommend a good product for cleaning corrosion out of pipes that will not damage rubber, copper, cast iron or brass?

We're going to move the pump to the boiler supply pipe to remove any chance of negative pressure at the air seperator, and also add corrosion inhibitors after as thorough a cleaning we can give the system. However I can't believe that all this rust occurred in the last 7 months.. the water is solid brown.. so I don't trust a simple flush to get enough out to prevent more clogging.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Haven't seen anything like this before... with this rust it's a miracle the lady's boiler is still running....

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Unknown

There has got to be a cleaning product for this, doesn't there? What to do when flushing isn't enough...

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Boilergeek

Rhomar has some products that can help, Dan has indorsed and used them. I have no experiance with them but I'll take his word for it.
By the way, the way you said Onix in a staple up, "not our system" indicates that you have a problem with that application. In my experiance there is not a better product for that application. Just my 2 cents.

eleft_4

Clear Water

Unknown

It's not the product I have a problem with, it's the application itself. We very rarely do naked staple up systems at all and only in very loss low situations, which this is not. Most definitely not a design decision we would have preferred for this project.

Thanks for the tip on Rhomar, I'll check it out.

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eleft_4

Clear Water

eleft_4

Clear Water

> Ok, so I helped troubleshoot a system yesterday.

> The system worked fine for several years then

> suddenly couldn't keep up anymore. Onix stapleup

> (not our system!) running at 160-180 with a

> couple short lengths of concurrently running

> baseboard tied in to supplement.. one room,

> baseboard elsewhere. CI boiler and pumps.

> Staple up has a tempering valve but all water

> running through the radiant zone MUST go through

> the tempering valve in order to return to the

> boiler, no bypass leg. Radiant has its own pump

> pulling from the mixing valve...apparently this

> pump corroded out initially and has been

> replaced.

>

> Last winter another crew went in,

> put in that pump, played with the piping a bit,

> and thoroughly flushed the system 3 or 4 times

> before refilling. It worked for a few weeks and

> then had problems again.

>

> We checked it out and

> it's got a staggerring amount of rust in the

> water. Our theory is that its clogging the

> tempering valve. However it really is a lot of

> rust and the only way I've found so far that O2

> might be getting in is through the air

> seperator... there are no leaks and no problem

> with the fill valve.

>

> So...

> questions.

>

> First, can anyone reccommend a good

> product for cleaning corrosion out of pipes that

> will not damage rubber, copper, cast iron or

> brass?

>

> We're going to move the pump to the

> boiler supply pipe to remove any chance of

> negative pressure at the air seperator, and also

> add corrosion inhibitors after as thorough a

> cleaning we can give the system. However I can't

> believe that all this rust occurred in the last 7

> months.. the water is solid brown.. so I don't

> trust a simple flush to get enough out to prevent

> more clogging.

>

> Any ideas would be appreciated.

> Haven't seen anything like this before... with

> this rust it's a miracle the lady's boiler is

> still running....

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 340&Step=30"_To Learn More About This

> Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in

> "Find A Professional"_/A_

eleft_4

Clear water

Unknown

hey, that product was exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much for the tip.

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