leak in pressur regulators

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Does your valve resemble the valve in the attachment? Is the water coming out where the arrow is located in the diagram? Are you sure your pressure is 33 lbs?

Please describe your expansion tank. That is a small tank very near your boiler. It also may be hung directly above the boiler. It will be connected to the boiler by a small pipe or copper tube.

A few photos would be very helpful.

Ed

aaron allen

leak in pressure regulators

I fired up the boiler for my hot water radiator heat. There is a double bell like pressure regulator at the end of the city water line just before the boiler. After twenty minutes of heating up 155 degrees and 33 PSI water started to come out the bottom the second bell like part of the regulator. there is a threaded opening in the bottom and putting my finger over it created pressure like that of a garden hose. The pressure adjust scew is up on the first "bell" and pretty much all the way down on the one that is leaking. I have never adjusted these. Should the second adjusting screw be bottomed out? Does something need to be resealed or repaied with a seal kit? There are some markings on the regulator, but its hard to read. Any help?? Thanks, A2

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Water leak

The pressure you desctibed (33 lbs) is above the standard 30 lb set point of a pressure relief valve on the boiler. Does your valve that you are describing resemble the one in the attachment?

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Leak

Does your valve resemble the dual control as depicted in the attachment?

Also, please describe your expansion tank. That is a small tank that is very near your boiler, or possibly hung from the ceiling, and is connected to the heating system pipes by a smaller pipe.

Also, a few photos would be very helpful.

Ed

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Water leak

Does your valve resemble the valve in the attachment? Is the water coming out where the arrow is located in the diagram? Are you sure your pressure is 33 lbs? (That is too high for a FHW boiler).

Please describe your expansion tank. Is there a drain valve on the bottom of the tank. The expansion tank is a small tank very near your boiler. It also may be hung directly above the boiler. It will be connected to the boiler by a small pipe or copper tube.

A few photos would be very helpful.

Ed

aaron allen

leak in pressure regulators

Yes, your attachment is very accurate. There is a gauge mounted inside the boiler access panel. I looked three times to make sure I was reading it correct. I turned the heat down. There is no pressure now. The expansion tank is mounted in my ceiling above and a little to the left of the boiler. It fits into the joist space. Yes there is a drain valve. Sorry, but unable to provide pictures at this time. What do you think??

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Leaking relief valve

The condition you describe appears to be your pressure relief deploying due to pressure in your system above the normal 30 lb set point of the relief valve.

It appears that you have an expansion tank (a compression type tank) where the water is on contact with the air cushion. It also appears that your expansion tank may be waterlogged.

You said that when the boiler was off, there was no pressure. Did the pressure actually go to zero? If not, what was the actual pressure on the gauge when the boiler was off?

How old is that combination feed and relief valve that is leaking?

Do you know how to properly drain your expansion tank, and replenish the air cushion inside of the tank?

See the link below for more details about the condition of a water logged tank.

Ed


http://www.heatinghelp.com/newsletter.cfm?Id=41

aaron allen

There is actually 7 PSI on the gauge and the little red arrow attached to the glass front of the gauge is set at 17 PSI. The arrow acts more like a set point and has no physical connection to anything.

I was able to drain off at least a good couple of gallons from the expansion tank, I believe it was gravity fed, there wasn't much pressure behind it. I have always made a practice of bleeding the air from the little bleeder valves 2 to 3 times during a heating season. Is this a good practice? Some advice from when I purchased the home 3 years ago. There is very little air at the beginning of the season and really none to speak of during the rest the season.

A little side note: When I purchased the house I got an inspection ( of the whole house) and the inspector said to replace the expansion tank ( just by looking at it) so I called in a company with experience with these kinds of systems. The technician ( 60 yrs old plus) became irate of the inspector recommendations and said there was nothing wrong with the setup. The boiler was replaced in 1992, so I'm told. There is a 92 in the model number. The expansion tank and the combination feed and relief valve are more towards original in appearance. In the late 50's, the house was converted from coal to nat. gas.

Now that the system is heating this evening I have drained a portion of the expansion tank. Obviously the pressure came down, and is slowly building back up. The temp. has risen to 145 and the pressure to 35 PSI and the water is trickling out from the relief. I noticed no vakve to stop gravity feeding the expansion tank, do I need to add one?

Thanks for all your help

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Not done yet

I have been out of town for several days.

You have described what appears to be a water logged expansion tank. It does not appear that you fully understand the proper way to completely drain and replenish the air cushion in that tank.

The relief valve should not be leaking. An ongoing leak of a relief will destroy it, and render it unsafe. Also, your boiler water pressure should have dropped to approximately 12 to 15 pounds, and remained well below thirty pounds during all heating cycles and at any temperature in the boiler (as long as the high limit works).

At 145 degrees your pressure should not have gone from 7 pounds back up to 35 pounds. The relief should not still be leaking.

I think it is time you find a good heating contractor in your area to check out the problem. As long as there is an operational shut off valve in the expansion tank feed, (and the guy knows what he is doing), it will be a very easy job.

He must however, then check the feed and relief valve. Given the age and condition that you described with this system and the F&R I think that he may also find it necessary to replace the F&R, which is a much more complicated job that could require draining and refilling your heating system. But it must be done soon.

Do not let the system continue to operate this winter without getting this problem rectified. The relief valve will corrode and be disabled, and also the fresh water constantly feeding the boiler, (to replace the water lost through the relief) will corrode your boiler quickly, (just to name a few, but not all problems)..

Good Luck,

Ed