Steam Boiler wont turn on

branimal · November 15

Boiler was working fine on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon I had to shut off the water from the city to replace some shut off valves in a bathroom. Got that done in a couple of hours. I have a low water cut off control fwir.

Now the boiler won't fire up. I'm calling for heat at the thermostat, but the boiler won't fire up.

Any idea what I should do here?

I took some pictures of the boilers control settings:

PC7060 · November 15

please provide a few more photo of boiler from few feet back. Front, side, etc.

branimal · November 15

Additional pictures

ethicalpaul · November 15

if it’s a 120v cyclegard it should be testing regardless, so look for the test light to come on every 15 or 20 minutes

If it doesn’t, are you sure the boiler has power? Time to get out the meter

Edit: I see the test light in one of the photos. So we know it has 120v

Start testing for 24vac at the transformer and follow it to the thermostat connection to see if it’s calling.

Edit after more thinking: I just can't think of any reasons why turning the water off had anything to do with this. Was anything else changed at all? Could just be coincidence.

Long Beach Ed · November 15

Make certain you have the proper water level in the sight glass and make sure any remote shut off switch is on.

Jamie Hall · November 15

Is there any chance the manual reset pressuretrol tripped? Try pressing its reset button…

branimal · November 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820318#Comment_1820318

Here's a picture of the sight glass. Hard to tell put it doesn't look like there's any water in it. I'll clean it off and take another look. The valves (red handles) above and below are wide open.

I don't know if there are any remove shut off switches.

branimal · November 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820339#Comment_1820339

I don't know. I pressed the reset button. I heard a click and waited around but nothing has happened.

Jamie Hall · November 15

Well, then it wasn't that…

Grallert · November 15

What are the chances the boiler is over filled tripping the pressure limit? It looks to me the sight glass is/could be full and the gauge is showing pressure.

Long Beach Ed · November 15

Put some water in that boiler. The green valve next to the automatic fill valve should do that. You want the sight glass 2/3 full. Then the boiler should turn on.

ethicalpaul · November 15

But shut it off if water starts spraying out of all your radiator vents 😅

branimal · November 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820374#Comment_1820374

I cleaned off the glass and I can't tell if its full or empty.

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820384#Comment_1820384

I turned on the green valve and let it run for 30 seconds. The sight glass didn't change. Then I clicked on the manual feed button and let it run for 1 minute. The sight glass still didn't change. So then I shut off a valve further upstream to avoid overfilling the boiler.

How long should I let the feed run? Is there some protective measure to make sure I don't overfill the boiler?

ethicalpaul · November 15

There's a valve/plug at the bottom of the bottom gauge glass fitting. You can remove it with a small wrench and see if water comes out.

If water starts pouring out, you can close that bottom red valve to stop it while you put the plug back in.

Or you can open the boiler drain and see how much water comes out.

STEAM DOCTOR · November 15

Connect a washing machine hose to the boiler drain. Open the boiler drain and lift the other end of the washing machine hose. That will tell you how much water is in the boiler. The highest level that water flows out of the far end of the washing machine hose is the boiler water level. Assumes that the boiler drain works.

Grallert · November 15

@branimal you can slip a 100 dollar bill behind the sight glass and look to see if it's distorted at all. If it's full of water there will be a magnifying effect. Actually I guess you could use and denomination.

Grallert · November 15

@branimal There is now over feel shut off, so it's important to know where the water is at all times. The pressure switch only disconnects the burner circuit, it has no idea where the water is. Auto feed valve often fail in both the closed position and semiclosed position leading to either a cold boiler or a flooded boiler.

branimal · November 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820426#Comment_1820426

Tried that - the numbers are magnified. So I guess the water level is full.

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820427#Comment_1820427

Should I let out the water from the boiler drain until the sight glass shows about 2/3 full?

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820423#Comment_1820423

Is this the boiler drain? I see two washing machine sized connections. I'm guessing the red valve is the boiler drain.

ethicalpaul · November 15

yes that drain is fine. Yes 2/3 or so on the gauge glass is fine

branimal · November 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820427#Comment_1820427

I drained the boiler using a washing machine hose. My hose only reaches about 15" above the top of the boiler and it was draining. So definitely flooded boiler. I filled up a few 5 gallon buckets. I got the sight glass to about 2/3 full.

Then the boiler started making its startup sound so I powered it down with the power switch on the boiler. Is it ok to fire up a flooded boiler or should I leave if overnight to dry out?

I have a shut off valve upstream from the boiler water supply shut off to prevent flooding. Thats normally in the open position. Do I have to get the autofeed valve replaced? It's a relatively new boiler. Installed in 2018.

dabrakeman · November 15

IF you fire it up and then start letting water out the spigot into the red bucket you should be able to test whether your LWCO properly shuts down the boiler when the water gets too low and if it does shut the drain valve and see whether the water feeder properly refills the boiler and stops before the water gets much more than halfway up the sight glass. If the LWCO is properly working you can run your boiler. IF the feeder is not working (no stopping it's fill) bypass it and manually check and regulate your water level until you get the water feeder replaced.

ethicalpaul · November 15

Is it ok to fire up a flooded boiler or should I leave if overnight to dry out?

Dry out? You must be aware the boiler is 2/3 full of water, and when it’s making steam, every interior surface of boiler and all pipes and all radiators are dripping freshly condensed liquid water, right?

branimal · November 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1820448#Comment_1820448

Tried this. The LWCO cuts off the boiler when the water level got too low . The automatic feeder kicked and overfilled the boiler.

Thanks for all the help guys!!!!

Is the water feeder a serviceable part? Or do I have to replace it? The feeder is a McDonnell Miller WFE-24.

delcrossv · November 16

Stuck valve or signal problem from your LWCO. For now, just feed water manually.

The valve part is not available as a replacement part.

Steam Boiler wont turn on

Comments

Categories