Steam boiler water level rises after steaming

Steve Garson

It turns out that the automatic low water fill is being activated, so that is why my water level is a gallon higher after a steam cycle. The odd thing is, when watching the watch glass, it only drops one inch on a cycle, which is no where near the low water cut-off point. I shut off the auto-fill and the problem stopped. No to figure out why it is activating so early.

Steve Garson

Steam boiler water level rises after steaming

The other day I spent an hour skimming my boiler. Kept the temp at 180 degrees and skimmed constantly with a total of a around 20 gallons. The water appears to be fine. (This is after the boiler was properly cleaned at installation during the summer).

When the boiler calls for heat, the water in the watch glass only bounces around 3/4-inch, which Dan's book says is normal. When the steam cycle is complete, the water level ends up one-inch higher than it was before the start of the cycle. I thought that the water level should be lower at that point. All my radiators are getting hot at a pretty good clip. Although one of my radiators with a higher vent rate ends up gurgling with water.

Are things normal and I just need a smaller vent on that one radiator since more steam is being generated faster? The boiler is a WM SG0-4.

Thanks,

Steve

Steamhead (in transit)

Water level rising after shutoff

is OK. All the steam in the system is condensing and flowing back to the boiler, and since there is no more steam being made to take its place, the water level goes up slightly.

Try a smaller vent on the gurgling radiator. If that doesn't help you likely have a pitch problem somewhere.

Steve Garson

I just drained the "extra" water to measure the volume. There was one gallon removed to take the water down to the water line on the boiler. Doesn't make sense to me.

I'll try a smaller vent as suggested.

RMA

1\"

not so bad.
if your starting from a cold boiler , rememder that water expands when heated, this plus condensate return is probably what you are experiencing