foaming steamer

JM_2

I had a boiler installed at the end of last season. it worked fine all spring and through the fall. Now it is foaming. As it starts to steam, i can hear gurgling and whooshing in the header and the water level in the glass drops rapidly. I am concerned that thr boiler could be damaged by this condition. The probe LWC is being fooled by the foam. It does have Cycle gaurd, but will this protect me untill it is compeltly cleaned, or should i leave the unit off?

Thanks

Constantin

Send a sample to Rhomar Water Treatment

Have them concoct a cleaner for you. Sounds like a lot of oil and other junk having a grand ol' time in your boiler.

JM_2

foaming part II

I have been skimming using the relief tapping, Burnham suggests using a tapping which is a little lower down. I wonder if this would make a difference? The tapping they suggest is factory plugged and requires removing some sheet metal to get at.

Steamhead

Probably needs more than skimming

The first thing I'd do is flush that thing out with a hose under house water pressure. Not just the boiler but the wet return lines as well. I'll bet you find much of the flush water comes out looking like liquid mud. You'll never make good steam with that stuff.

You may find there's so much dirt in that system you have to do this several times. Keep at it, you'll get it clean.

Whenever possible I avoid using chemical cleaners in steam boilers, because you have to flush out all remains of the chemical. This can be difficult.

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JM_2

Problem solved

I think I have cured the problem. I had hot skimmed it from the 3/4" relief valve tapping for almost two hrs, getting stuff that looked like swamp water, but when i finished, even though the water was mostly clear, i could still see a plug of crud floating on top of the water in the glass. Above this crud was about 1/4" of oil. The next step was to get at the "L" tapping that Burnham advises you use for skimming, and cold skim for another 2 Hrs. the cold skimming did the trick. I ran it for an hour and the water line hardly moved. Thank God.

Unknown

John , this brings up a good question

How much water can pass through a steam boiler relief valve before it needs to be replaced ? I know most relief valves are made of brass , but some valve bodies and internal springs are iron and steel .

JM_2

relief valve.

I removed the relief valve and just used the tapping, but its no good.