Boiler short-cycles...now what?

John Shea

Hello all,

To make a long story short, last night my landlord came over because steam had filled the basement. We found a couple problems with this gas fired steam boiler for my 1 pipe heated apartment...both the glass gauge and pigtail were clogged so the boiler was reaching 15PSI, thus causing the safety to kick out the excess steam. Now that those are both clean, the boiler is short-cycleing and while I understand that this is not as dangerous as yesterday's issue, I know that its not good for efficiency.

The only thing that changed was that I insulated about 25 feet of pipe that had previously been exposed. I did this on Sunday and on Monday the boiler started building too much pressure...did my actions cause the boiler to operate *too* well in a way?

He admitted that the boiler is oversized but thinks that short cycling is not that bad considering the alternative. He also admitted that he doesn't know steam very well but he knows someone who does if need be.

After this near-death experience, I think he's willing to listen to my suggestions as long as they are resonable. Given that he is not going to replace the boiler completely, what can I ask him for to make the boiler stop short-cycling?

Thanks for your help,
Jenny

Ken_8

I would suggest your

insulation was co-incidental, not a direct cause of the short cycling.

The pressure should run between way under a pound to maybe 2 pounds tops.

If it is in that "range," there's little else you can do. If however you see the water line in the gage glass bouncing up and down over two inches while steaming, the LWCO (low water cutoff) is making it short cycle and that's a no good. The boiler water sides must be cleaned and skimmed.

Your thoughts now?

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John Shea

Pressuretrol cutting in at 4.5PSI

and the water in the gauge is bouncing but not as dramatically as you described.

I think the reason the burner is short cycling is because pressure is building up more so than ever before. Last night the pigtail was clogged so the steam pressure just kept on building but now that its fixed, it keeps cutting in because the pressure keeps wanting to rise.

I have some bigger/faster radiator vents on the way but I don't think that will solve this entirely.