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Friend's boiler has no water in the sight glass !?!!?!

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CoachBoilermaker
CoachBoilermaker Member Posts: 431
in Strictly Steam

Friend's radiator valves have been falling out. They may have been on he ground for years. I was curious if the boiler was low on water. He says the heat works fine.

I went down to the basement to see. I saw the sight glass was empty. The pipe going down to the LWCO was hot. Is the water just low? I told him to turn the perpendicular lever until the water was half way up the sight glass. Is there an automatic water refill ? I posted 8 pics below.

https://imgur.com/a/dmOS82f

Comments

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,673

    DO NOT Manually fill that boiler. Shut it down and let it cool for several hours before opening any valves.

    Waher
  • CoachBoilermaker
    CoachBoilermaker Member Posts: 431
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1874200#Comment_1874200

    Too late. What now? Rads were cold when sight glass was low. He raised water to half with lever. You are suggesting the condensate will rise the level and make it too high? I'll tell him the check level in sight glass, and if it's above the top, to drain some via LWCO

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,673

    If you don't see water, then it's dangerous to add more. You do not know if there is any or was any in there. In the future shut it off and let it cool for several hours.

    Then after its cooled slowly add fresh water until the glass level is normal.

    With no water in the sight glass, it's best to get it serviced and find out

    a) Where it went

    b) Why it didn't shut down automatically.

    Waher
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 19,172

    Unless the customer is willing to sit by the boiler and continuously monitor the water level while the boiler is turned on

    It needs to be shut down and the low water cutoff serviced.

    The boiler may be damaged already

    Wahermattmia2
  • dabrakeman
    dabrakeman Member Posts: 819

    No sign of any water on the floor when you refilled the boiler? An abundance of caution is wise here but what is your situation? Whole family over there for a TG dinner…? Being Thanksgiving Day may be hard to get anyone out there immediately. If there is water on the floor you are done. If not you still have apparently an inoperable low water cutoff, likely an inoperable water feed (unless it is only manual water feed) and a water leak somewhere or hole in the top of the boiler. I'm not advising it but if heat is mandatory today you can watch it all day. Watch a full cycle and if seems to keep water in the glass and return to near where it was before after the cycle is done then setup a timer on someones phone and check it every 1/2 hour or hour throughout the day. Shut if off completely at night.

    EBEBRATT-EdpecmsgWaher
  • DanielDAY
    DanielDAY Member Posts: 25

    I couldn’t quite understand what you meant by the radiator valves were falling out. Are they not attached to the radiators?

    Like others said, keep the boiler off for hours until you fill. If the boiler runs dry, and the low water cut off device doesn’t shut the boiler off, adding water can cause an explosion.

    if you could sent pictures of your LWCO device and the radiator valves that would help us be able to help you. If you know how to blow down the LWCO, do that and see if muddy water comes out.

    Muddy water is a sign that it’s probably not being blown down and the return lines / boiler are filthy and it could be flushed

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 19,172

    @DanielDAY He may be talking about the air vent (valves)

  • CoachBoilermaker
    CoachBoilermaker Member Posts: 431

    The air vents on the radiator have fallen off. Threads must be rotting. There was water in the floor next to the fallen off radiator air vent, so the system has been losing water for a long time.

    I'll have the friend look at the sight glass level tomorrow. The rads were cool when the water level was low, so it's not like the water was in steam form at the time, leading to overfull.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,067

    the concern is if the boiler has been dry fired and you add water it is likely to crack the boiler. if you don't see any water in the sight glass you don't know if there is any water in the boiler at all.

    it has an automatic feeder. the control for that is also the low water cutout. if that isn't working you should not operate the boiler. it could lead to the boiler dry firing which can pretty easily start a fire and could even cause the boiler to explode in extreme cases.

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