Low Water Cutoff

clammy

Most larger boilers weather steam or hot water are required to have (steam)manual reset pressuretrol and low water cut off and (hot water) a Manual reset high limit and a manual reset low water cut off to remove them would be stupid and probaly when you get your yearly insurance inspection you will fail plus if there happened to be any major promblem and there is damage upon inspection of the boiler by your insurance co would most likely reject any insurance claim .Any plumber or hvac tech who recomends to remove and not replaced does not know the safety codes and should be removed from your building .Theses control are not the operating controls but secondary safeties in case the operating controls fail it is not a smart idea to remove them you are tacking a risk one that i would not personaly take .The price of these control are well worth the extra saftey and peace of mind .Peace and good luck clammy

James_11

Low Water Cutoff

I Hope someone can help with this, one of our members (We are a church) has discovered that the Low Water Cutoff on our Hydronic boiler is no longer working. The boiler is not "Low" on water, running according to all the limits and otherwise seems fine. In order to avoid a freeze-out he disconected the L.W.C. and fired the boiler back up. Everything seems to work fine now but we are getting ready for winter and wondered if we should replace it. three plumbers said since it is NOT a Steam boiler, we don't need it, but none of them could tell me why we had it in the first place. Incidently, the boiler heats radiators in the duct work which is blown into the church via fans. Could the L.W.C. have to do with the antifreeze in the hydronics line? Any Help would be apreciated.

bob young

put it back

please put it back. it is a primary safety control that will prevent the boiler from exploding and possible loss of life if a low water condition exists. extremely important insurance device.

Big Ed

Wow

Three Plumbers say it is not needed...... scary .

Ron Schroeder_3

plumbers?

Here, Here.

jon_6

state codes

depending on what state you are living their are codes for lwco. i am from new york and we do install lwco, it is a code in this state. so check local and state building codes. the local building inspector and even the state inspector( considering your a commecial) building could answer these questions

bob young

lawful explosion

that's great. in other words if according to law a low water cutoff is not required than it is okay to blow up the building. great advice. most normal people would want to take advantage of safety devices rather than skirt the law and roll the dice.

Unknown

LWCO

The International Mechanical Code requires a Low Water Cutoff on every hot water boiler including smaller residential models. As stated above, there are currently only about seven states that enforce this for residential applications. As far as I am aware, ALL commercial installations above 300,000 btuh input require CSD-1 Code controls. On a hot water boiler these would include a Manual Reset Low Water Cutoff and a Manual Reset High Limit in addition to the Operating Limit control. In a building that is intended for public occupancy, it makes sense to get this control replaced as soon as possible before it becomes a liability issue. Hope this helps.


Glenn Stanton

Manager of Training

Burnham Hydronics