Good Protocol For Keeping Water Clean in Boiler

The best advice for residential boilers is to put in as little water as possible. Float type low water cutoffs do need to be blown down perhaps twice a month to once a week. Ideally, other than that, you add no water at all. That said, most systems do require a little makeup water now and then — perhaps a gallon a month.

There is something to be said for blowing down the boiler itself from the mud leg/bottom drains once a year, to get any accumulated goop out — but if you are not adding much water, there won't be all that much (though it may be remarkably hard!).

Some people advocate adding a small amount of buffer to drive the pH up into the alkaline range; others don't feel it is necessary.

That said on an initial install or if significant work has been done on piping, it is absolutely necessary to thoroughly skim the boiler to get rid of any oil. This is time consuming, but critical. It doesn't use much water, though.

You saw Mikey Pipes. He is not too bad but one strong disagreement I have with him is that he is constantly draining all the water out of boilers and replacing it. He sees muddy water as the enemy without understanding that he is creating that enemy.

I currently believe that the idea that you can remove the damage of fresh water in a boiler by boiling the water quickly after adding it, is a myth.

Of course you are going to boil all the new water in a boiler, it is a boiler. In fact I would say that almost all the new water added to a boiler is pretty much immediately boiled (think about an auto-feed—it activates when a boiler is getting a call for heat and so it gets boiled right away).

But regardless of when that fresh water is boiled, the oxygen within it is released into the boiler cavity and I think the damage is done. The evidence of this is shown by production of rusty water.

That's why for all of last year as described in the video above I pre-boiled all my replacement water or used distilled water (along with my increased pH level). The video is there for all to judge.

I rather agree with @ethicalpaul here — we often do! — on his comments on oxygen in water: it does pretty well vanish on the first boil. Whether it is useful to preboil the water or not… well, he's fussier than I am!

I would completely disagree with the YouTube chap. Any chemical reactions — including corrosion — with the water will occur very quickly after addition — and then stop when the chemical environment has stabilised.

Reddit can be good, but moderation is always a challenge everywhere on the internet. Here we are lucky to have Erin.

the Burnham Independence line seems to not be lasting as long as it once did decades ago and lots of people around here including me would be hesitant to install or recommend one today. I haven't seen a conclusive reason but my favorite theory is that they have changed the boiler castings perhaps to make them better at transferring heat in the name of increased efficiency, and their lifetime has been greatly shortened.

They also make what I think is called a "three-pass" design called the MegaSteam that is highly regarded (but is sold only as an oil-burning boiler). I have no direct experience with either product.

I think several knowledgable people on this forum would say that you are OK with your MegaSteam, congrats!

Adding in some questions here as it ties in to a situation I have. Appears I've finally located most if not all leaks in my one pipe system. Make up water has been reduced to very little (about a quart over 2 weeks of pretty cold weather here). So I'm in the situation where my boiler water is pretty dirty, likely from the make up water added in the past. Is there any option on getting the water cleaner without draining and flushing the system? Doesn't appear so, my plan once the heating season is over was to flush out the entire system including the inside of the boiler and return lines.

Would adding 8 Way be something done at the same time I replenish the system after flushing it down? BTW Peerless boiler replaced in late 2011.

Since this thread got reanimated, I will take this opportunity to share a video I made the other day about this topic. It shows my current practice to keep my boiler water clean and to minimize corrosion

Since I replaced the return piping below the witer line with copper, I'm just not seeing a lot of dirt and sediment in my boiler. I see a little when I drain it for the summer, but in the heating season I only add a little water. I never need to drain it. I haven't used my handy-dandy gauge glass blow-down valve in a couple of years.

Does dirty water make it harder to boil? I think sedimentation might impede heat transfer to some exteent, sending more heat up the flue, but I don't think it raises the boiling point. Dissolved solids (e.g. minerals) can elevate the boiling point, but not suspended particles or colloids if I remember my chemistry.

When bought my apt building 5 years ago, one of the tenants was getting paid to completely drain and fill the boiler on a monthly basis (as per instructions from local plumbing co). It wasn't until a year or two later i found this forum and learned how bad that was.

All I do now is open up the lwco weekly during season. Water is crystal clear, never have used additives. Not bad for a 75 year old boiler. Consider myself extremely lucky.