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Water in basement from steam boiler need a fix

steam1916
steam1916 Member Posts: 5
in Strictly Steam

hi there, I am looking for any knowledge on my steam boiler and I am looking in the future to do my basement but I have noticed a few things and could use some help.
My system is one pipe and home was built in 1916.
I noticed tonight that one of the pipes or something is draining into a hose and into a sump pump pit. Said sump I guess could not keep up with the amount of water or perhaps can’t eject it out well enough.

Any ideas what is going on?

I traced my system and don’t see any main vents which saddens me, what I do see is all the pipes returning back into the boiler, which I don’t understand if it’s steam, doesn’t all the water just escape!!!

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Comments

  • 109A_5
    109A_5 Member Posts: 1,671

    Hello steam1916,

    Kind of vague, is your system actively loosing water ? So the boiler is leaking out of a hose and filled the sump pit and it then overflowed onto the basement floor ?

    Are the valves closed all the way Red Arrows. Air Vents at the Yellow arrows. The Air vents close when steam gets to them.

    image.png

    National - U.S. Gas Boiler 45+ Years Old
    Steam 300 SQ. FT. - EDR 347
    One Pipe System
    steam1916
  • steam1916
    steam1916 Member Posts: 5

    hi - how can I add more detail or be less vague?

    I’m not sure if they are leaking but is it possible?

    Also are those vents allowed to be closed? What is the second hose behind that bucket? I’m just very confused why there are no main vents and it’s making me think that the water is coming from those hoses

  • 109A_5
    109A_5 Member Posts: 1,671

    I'm not there you are, for all I know your basement floor is wet due to rain water. You need to investigate where the water is coming from and why. You don't want your boiler to run out of water !!!

    In normal operation there should no water coming from either hose. If the valve has failed or not securely tight they will leak water from your boiler system. The drain valves are there to flush the mud and muck out of the system during a maintenance service.

    The Yellow arrows I put in the picture are your main vents. They are open when cool to let the air vent out of the system so the steam can move through the system. When the hot steam gets to them they close automatically, so the steam can not escape out.

    The silver part on the side of the radiator is a radiator vent, they vent air at a slower rate than a main vent.

    image.png

    National - U.S. Gas Boiler 45+ Years Old
    Steam 300 SQ. FT. - EDR 347
    One Pipe System
  • 109A_5
    109A_5 Member Posts: 1,671
    edited December 12

    The drain valves and hoses and main vents are totally unrelated to each other, one has no influence over what the other does.

    National - U.S. Gas Boiler 45+ Years Old
    Steam 300 SQ. FT. - EDR 347
    One Pipe System
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,856

    Please buy the book "We got steam heat" from the store on this site, or from Amazon.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Grallert
  • LRCCBJ
    LRCCBJ Member Posts: 374

    In the second photo there appears to be an abandoned chimney that is now painted white. Search carefully around the base of this chimney during a rainstorm……………..you will find your "leak" there.

  • steam1916
    steam1916 Member Posts: 5

    yes it was raining for almost two days straight.

    That chimney looking thing is actually a support column of brick so no chimney there.

    I guess the culprit is not the steam system but perhaps the sump pump and pit.

  • steam1916
    steam1916 Member Posts: 5

    yes I’ve started reading that book as well making my way through it.

    Is it possible to move any of these long return runs and pipes? They are in the main area of the basement.

    But I guess the first activity should be the water issue….sigh

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,856

    On moving pipes and the like… maybe. But not until one really understands how the system works!

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    steam1916
  • steam1916
    steam1916 Member Posts: 5

    how can we discuss moving them? Is just posting pictures best or should I make a diagram? Or measurements?

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,856
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1826447#Comment_1826447

    All of the above. The problem with moving pipes with a steam system is that it is a system, and all the pipes need to work together to work properly — if at all. Both the vertical and horizontal locations relative to each other and the boiler are important.

    Until we really know what all of the pipes do and how they relate to each other, it really is hard to say which can be moved easily, which will be more difficult, and which might be very difficult.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

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