boiler pressure cut off at 5-6psi , water level is very low... spouting water constantly

5 or 6 psi and the pressuretrol set at 1.5? Not good. One obvious question -- how accurate is that pressure gauge? If it is the code required 30 psi gauge, probably not very. But still, your other symptoms also look like high pressure. So...

Is this the grey box type pressuretrol, with one little scale on the outside? If so, set that little scale down to just above 0.5 psi, which is as low as it will go safely. Then take the cover off and check where the white wheel inside is set. It should be set at 1 (again, as low as it can safely go). If it isn't, set it there. Cover back on.

You say and I don't doubt you that the pigtail is clean -- but is the opening from the pigtail into the boiler clean? That has been known to clog, so you might check that.

There are a number of good folks who work in Brooklyn; check "Find A Contractor" above. Most of them are kind of busy just now.

i had water coming out of my air vents. i mean literally spewing out, and the reason was the boiler needed to be skimmed. after two hours of skimming, it no longer did it, and was working perfectly.

Maybe it ain't broke. The system, that is. Those 0 to 30 psi gauges are notoriously inaccurate at lower pressures -- you need them for the building inspectors and the insurance, but otherwise they're just sort of decoration.

What does the gauge read when it's off and cool?

If you're feeling vaguely ambitious, it wouldn't be that hard to add a 0 to 3 psi gauge on the pigtail for the pressuretrol. Then you'd have a much better idea what the system was really doing.

When that type of pressuretrol is adjusted down low, the linkage from pressure diaphragm to switch can sometimes become disconnected.
A vaporstat, and low pressure gauge would be very useful.--NBC

Main reason for using a pressuretrol instead of a vapourstat is money. Pressuretrols are a lot cheaper! If this is a normal steam system -- not vapour -- I wouldn't see the point really. As @nicholas bonham-carter said, one does need to be a bit careful not to adjust a pressuretrol to low -- I'd never go below the 0.5 mark.

And yes, the vapourstat is to code.

The backup manual is fine where it is. Be no harm to setting it lower, but it does no harm there, either.

The pressure gauge actually could go on either pigtail, although putting it on the one with the active pressuretrol gives you a better idea of what that one is seeing. I'd probably put a T on the top of the pigtail, with the run going up, then a close nipple on the top and the pressuretrol on that, and probably a 3 inch nipple, a 90, and a close nipple off to one side and put the gauge on that. I hate putting things in front of other things.

Does the pressure still build to 5 PSI? If so, and the pigtail is not clogged, the Pressuretrol probably needs to be calibrated. Those Pressuretrols are notoriously way out of calibration, from the factory. Following is the calibration procedure but you do need a 0-3 PSI or 0_5PSI gauge to get accurate readings:

If you see the pressure on the low pressure gauge go much over 1.5 to 2 lbs follow this procedure to re-calibrate the Pressuretrol:
Inside the Pressuretrol, right below the micro switch, there is a pivot arm. At the end of that arm you will see a screw pin that is activated by the diaphragm at the bottom of the Pressuretrol. If you look very carefully at that screw pin, you will see it actually has a tiny (I mean tiny) hex head on it. It takes a .050 hex wrench and you can turn it clockwise (Towards the bottom of the Pressuretrol to decrease the Cut-out pressure or counter clockwise to increase the cut-out pressure (which none of us want to do but who knows, your Pressuretrol may be really screwed up!). Turn the power to the unit off first. You may find the first attempt to turn that screw a little bit stubborn (relatively speaking) because it has some Locktite on it but it does turn. (If you absolutely can't get it to turn, use a small soldering iron to melt the Locktite.) Don't turn too much, a tiny fraction of a turn goes a long way towards getting it adjusted where you want it (maybe 1/32 inch turn to start with) . You may need to play with it to get it exactly where you want cut out to be.

I agree with @ChrisJ. That has been my experience too.

It looks like there is a secondary pressuretrol with a manual reset on it. To test the primary--or its pigtail--why not just set the secondary to what the primary should be set to, say cutout at 1.5 psi? If the boiler then shuts off and doesn't come back on until reset, you know the primary pressuretrol has a problem or its pigtail is clogged.

And watch the pressure gauge to see at what pressure the boiler shuts off. I am guessing much less than 5 psi.

dopey27177 said:

Boiler pressure should be set at 2.5 Psi cut out and 1 Psi cut in.

Prefer a vapor stat.

Check to see if the piping below the floor for the rads that are spiting has good pitch.

To check this try to raise the rad with a crow bar where the pipe comes thru the floor. if the rads move up put wedges beneath the legs and pitch rads accordingly.

Before you do this make sure the rad valves are fully open. If you have a wet return disconnect piping and clean out the mud, do this with the piping from the hartford loop and into the boiler. Check to see if there is mud in the bottom of the boiler.

Jake

Hi Jake,

Why 2.5 PSI?
Why not 2.25 or 2.75?

I'm a SteamMaster user too. I might give Rectorseal 8 a try when I use up my SteamMaster tabs. It sounds like the same thing in a liquid form, which is easier to manage.

They're just inorganic chemicals. As long as they're stored in an air-tight container they should be fine.

For my two-cent's worth, if the pigtails and manifold are clear, get a new 0-4 psi vaporstat (ditch the crappy pressuretrol) and 0-3 psi gauge (in addition to the 0-30 psi existing) and call it a day. Set it to .5-1.5 psi and you should be golden.

I'd set the vapourstat at 1.5 on the main scale -- to start with -- and I like, for no particular reason, to set the differential at half the coutout, or about 0.7. Just for starters. You can play later...

That sketch of the fittings for the pressure control and the pressure gauge is exactly what I would do (and have done).

And yes, it isn't uncommon for pressuretrols and vapourstats to be out of calibration these days. Sadly. They do have calibration adjustments, and someone (I forget who now) has posted the procedure for pressuretrols. You need an accurate low pressure gauge, though, for the procedure.

No, the Differential should be set at 7 (between the 6 & 8, on the ounce side of the scale. Also, Use the top and bottom wire posts on the Vaporstat for wiring. The center post is not wired.
Also, here is the procedure to re-calibrate the Pressuretrol. As Jamie said, you need a low pressure gauge to calibrate correctly.

. If you see the pressure on the low pressure gauge go much over 1.5 to 2 lbs follow this procedure to re-calibrate the Pressuretrol:
Inside the Pressuretrol, right below the micro switch, there is a pivot arm. At the end of that arm you will see a screw pin that is activated by the diaphragm at the bottom of the Pressuretrol. If you look very carefully at that screw pin, you will see it actually has a tiny (I mean tiny) hex head on it. It takes a .050 hex wrench and you can turn it clockwise (Towards the bottom of the Pressuretrol to decrease the Cut-out pressure or counter clockwise to increase the cut-out pressure (which none of us want to do but who knows, your Pressuretrol may be really screwed up!). Turn the power to the unit off first. You may find the first attempt to turn that screw a little bit stubborn (relatively speaking) because it has some Locktite on it but it does turn. Don't turn too much, a tiny fraction of a turn goes a long way towards getting it adjusted where you want it (maybe 1/32 inch turn to start with) . You may need to play with it to get it exactly where you want cut out to be.

ethicalpaul said:

No, he means .7 psi. You are at 7 kPa.

.7psi would be about 11 ounces/sq inch using the far left scale but really anywhere around there should be fine

His Main is set at 1.5 PSI. His Differential should be set at 7 ounces.

Since everyone is arguing over it,
Why should is minimal be set 7-14 times higher than what I heat my house with?

Why not set that at 1-2 ounces?

The pressure at which the vapourstat should be set, @ChrisJ , will be different for different systems. It depends very much on the system.

If you have a low pressure gauge, and if you are patient, and if the system really is adequately vented, there is a definite procedure for optimum setting, however, as follows:

Start with the boiler cold. Turn on the boiler and observe the gauge. The pressure will rise as the boiler starts to make steam. At some point in the proceedings, the pressure will stop rising, or will continue to rise but at a much slower rate. This is the real out in the field pressure which is required, at the pressure gauge (and at the vapourstat, since they should be on the same pigtail)m to cause the steam produced by the boiler to overcome the friction loss in the piping to reach the radiation. Continue being patient. This plateau, or near plateau, will continue until all the radiation is receiving as much steam as it can condense. In almost all cases, the boiler is actually producing more steam than can be condensed, however. Thus, at this point the pressure will start to rise again at a faster rate -- but the energy just goes into compressing the steam. This is the point at which the vapourstat should cut out; for a margin of variability, I like to add a couple of ounces to the pressure at which it starts to rise more quickly (the additional run time will be small). There is one caution on this: some vapour systems will have a device, such as a Hoffman Differential Loop, which also has a minimum trip pressure; the vapourstat setting must be below that pressure. This is not, usually, a problem. Now the cutin pressure can be anything convenient below the cutout -- I use half the cutout as a simple mindless place to go. If the burner control in use has a post-purge and pre-purge, in almost all cases the cutin will be reached before the burner has cycled through the purges and thus is actually irrelevant, provided the system does cut back in!