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Is there an automatic water feeder with an alarm for steam boilers?

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TeachMeSteam
TeachMeSteam Member Posts: 128
in Strictly Steam
Do they make an automatic water feeder for a steam boiler that also sounds an alarm if there is too much makeup water that the steam boiler is taking in?

I am guessing that this would be too specific a product but hoping there is something like this.

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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,289
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    Some automatic feeders have a meter on them, which is very handy. Or you could put a water meter on the feed line. It's a little difficult to define "too much" -- what is fine for a big commercial boiler is way too much for a small residential unit.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • TeachMeSteam
    TeachMeSteam Member Posts: 128
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    Jamie Hall said:

    Some automatic feeders have a meter on them, which is very handy. Or you could put a water meter on the feed line. It's a little difficult to define "too much" -- what is fine for a big commercial boiler is way too much for a small residential unit.

    Do you know if they have alarms for these things. With just a water meter, it's very likely that no one will check it for ages.
  • Danny Scully
    Danny Scully Member Posts: 1,424
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    I (along with the help of a few others) created this on a recent install:

    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/169147/high-water-cut-off#latest
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,289
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    Just an alarm would actually be almost trivial. Most feeders operate off a signal -- usually but not always 24 volt -- from the low water cutoff. All you need to do is to put a relay in parallel with that signal, and have the contacts trigger an alarm -- light or what have you. Since the duration of the signal is short (usually!) the alarm should latch, but that's not really a problem electrically, although another relay would be involved.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,525
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    @TeachMeSteam
    You don't want an alarm. Adding water to a steam system isn't an alarm condition.

    The easiest way would be a water meter. A water meter connected to a properly operating system will give you a baseline of how much water that is being added.

    Then if you see an increase you know you have an issue

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