Where's the water?

delcrossv · October 5

Old Bryant hot water boiler, single circulator, two loop. Open compression tank to let water out, get half a gallon.

Ok.

Open feed valve to pressurize tank- nada, nihil, nothing. Ok. PRV is bad. But, it gets better!

Open purge sillcock and get a dribble of water. So either the sillcock is clogged- on a copper line- or the water has gone away.

But where? No leaks, no puddles.

Confusion reigns.

Idjit installed PRV with no union. So I'll saw the iron side and see what happens.

EdTheHeaterMan · October 5

It is in the ocean!

But seriously, You need to open a valve to see if there is water pressure anywhere in the building. once you determine that you have water pressure to the building, then you need to see if you get pressure to the fill valve. Are there any stop and waste valves near the boiler fill valve? Open one of the waste caps to see if you have water pressure at the boiler feed area. Once you get that established, then you can go from there.

delcrossv · October 6

Pressure in the buiding is fine. Did the lower floor system with no issues.

Weird thing isn’t the lack of feed,it's the lack of water in the loop.

EBEBRATT-Ed · October 6

prv set to low or plugged.

delcrossv · October 6

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1813185#Comment_1813185

That's for sure. Replacing that is Tuesday nights task.

EdTheHeaterMan · October 6

You need 1 PSI to raise water 28" @delcrossv

You need 2 PSI to raise water 56" @delcrossv

You need 3 PSI to raise water 7' @delcrossv

You need 4 PSI to raise water 9' 4" @delcrossv

You need 5 PSI to raise water 11' 8" @delcrossv

You need 6 PSI to raise water 14' @delcrossv

You need 7 PSI to raise water 16' 4"@delcrossv

You need 8 PSI to raise water 19' 8"@delcrossv

You need 9 PSI to raise water 21' @delcrossv

You need 10 PSI to raise water 23' 4"@delcrossv

You need 11 PSI to raise water 26' 8"@delcrossv

You need 12 PSI to raise water 28'@delcrossv

You need 13 PSI to raise water 30' 4"@delcrossv

You need 14 PSI to raise water 32' 8"@delcrossv

You need 15 PSI to raise water 35' @EBEBRATT-Ed

You need 16 PSI to raise water 37' 4" @delcrossv

There is a linear pattern here. You can figure it out if you upper system is higher than 38 feet.

I agree, @EdTheHeaterMan has too much time on his hands

EBEBRATT-Ed · October 7

2.31 feet/psi

But I always remember 2'/lb. That gets you close and is easy to remember.

So a 100 foot tall building @2.31 feet/lb=43 psi

@2'/lb 100 feet=50psi which would give you 7psi at the top just enough extra.

Many time I have taken a rope with a weight on it and dropped it out a window on the top floor. Tied a knot in the rope and pulled it up and measured the rope with a tape measure.

Better yet if you have a place to put a gauge on the top floor but you can't always count on that.

delcrossv · October 7

About 28' so the 12 psi setting the PRV comes from B&G should be fine.

Bet I find the water when I cut out the old PRV. I'm not going to touch the flimsy boiler drain valve that hasn't been opened since the 70s.

delcrossv · October 9

Drain valve wasn't stuck so opened that and the drain on the compression tank and we found the water!

Replaced PRV, cleaned exchanger, burners and pilot, replaced micro sized purge valve with a full port 1/2" ball valve.

Purged both loops, set it to 12 psi cold and I think it's a wrap for building #2.

Where's the water?

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