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Burnham independence boiler - pressure gasket settings

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evenj
evenj Member Posts: 2
in Strictly Steam
First of all, forgive the ignorance regarding heating, but I need a little help. We have a 3 year old independence boiler. Was serviced last year. Working great. My husband noticed the water level was a bit low and turned on the supply to add water, as we have since its install,without issue. This time he forgot to turn it off and came back up from the basement. After about 30 minutes, we had water spewing from the radiators on the first floor.
We turned off the supply and began draining.
But, my husband decided to play with the gaskets on the top and bottom of the gauge glass because he was frustrated about how slow it seemed to him.
Now, the glass Gauge seems to have a mind of its own. I am sure that the gasket settings are off.
Being completely green to this furnace, should the gaskets be open, closed, maybe one open and one closed?? Any help or thoughts without having to call in the plumber??

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  • Danny Scully
    Danny Scully Member Posts: 1,424
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    1st: you have a boiler, a steam boiler to be exactly. Furnace heats air, boiler heats water.

    2nd: what gaskets are you referring to? The gauge glass valves should both be open. Are you referring to the valves?
    evenj
  • Abracadabra
    Abracadabra Member Posts: 1,948
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    gauge glass valves should both be fully open. turn them counter-clockwise until they stop.
    evenj
  • evenj
    evenj Member Posts: 2
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    @Danny Scully
    Thank you! I was calling them gaskets. Yes, the valves. Jeremiah just kept turning them all over and one was set in the middle, the other all the way clockwise.
  • wcs5050
    wcs5050 Member Posts: 131
    edited January 2017
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    You might want to consider having an automatic water feeder installed. This eliminates human error and the need to monitor the boilers water level. WFE-24V Uni Match water feeder by McDonnell and Miller connects to the Burnham low water control by the same company. It would be good to have a qualified technician install it on a bypass piping and set it up, as there are modifications to its factory settings that may affect its performance with your boiler. If water is clean and goes above top of sight glass, it will be hard to tell the level of water at all.
    evenj
  • Danny Scully
    Danny Scully Member Posts: 1,424
    edited January 2017
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    If you do decide to install a feeder, realize that they too can fail and flood your system. I would, however, highly suggest Hydrolevel VXT over McDonnell Miller. The VXT has a built in meter so you can monitor how often it fills, which is very important.
    evenj

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