Water Line

tom_54

In "The Lost Art of Steam Heating" Dan says that the "When the burner is firing, the "normal" waterline should be very near the bottom of the gauge glass." Is this true for all steam systems?

I have one pipe steam and when my burner is firing the water lever is almost always near the top of the guage glass. At rest, the water lever is somewhere in the top 1/3 of the gauage glass. As far as I can tell I do not have an automatic feed. Should I drain water from the burner?

Any help would be appreciated.