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Best treatment options for a commercial grade steam heating boiler

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luketheplumber
luketheplumber Member Posts: 163
in Strictly Steam

Hey everyone its been awhile since I posted here. I have a commercial steam boiler for a large apartment building that I service regularly. I've been using steam clean treatment on all my residential boilers and I've been very pleased with the results.

This boiler however would take 10-15 bottles of steam clean to effectively treat it according to what I've looked up.

What are my options for treatment a boiler this size?

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Located in durham NC.

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,939

    Ideally you would consult with a water treatment company that specializes in treating steam heating systems that can look at what is in the water and recommend how to treat it.

    Most of the additives that are sold for steam boilers recommend about 5x the concentration that actually performs the best. Inhibitors and keeping the ph in check can go a long way in keeping the system from corroding but whatever sludge does form should be flushed out every couple years by flushing the mains and wanding the boiler.

    luketheplumber
  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 163

    @mattmia2 is there any disadvantage of a little too much treatment?

    This building has hundreds of radiators and I cant check all of them. This system definitely has leaks and uses a decent amount of makeup water. I fix every one I can but getting into all the apartments is easier said than done. I figured a bit extra wouldn't hurt.

    Located in durham NC.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,939

    too much additive can cause it to prime (foam). @ethicalpaul claims this is not possible but we have seen people that had terrible carryover problems have them be solved by draining out the water with additive and filling with fresh water. I think it depends on what is already in the water if it primes or not but the initial water chemistry definitely will affect how much additive it needs.

    there are certainly ways to treat the makeup water to make it less damaging to the boiler.

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,308
    edited January 22

    I agree with you Matt. I found I could add way too much 8-way without issue to clean water. But if junk is in there all bets are off. So now I advise only adding treatment when the water is clean.

    The exception would be if you are using treatment to help clean out old mud and sediment, in which case some repetition will be required

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,308
    edited January 22

    wow 11,500 sq ft of steam

    Keep in mind the issue of boiler water treatment is a separate issue to leaks in the radiators/vents, except it will help protect the boiler from the corrosion from the fresh water (help, not eliminate)

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • luketheplumber
    luketheplumber Member Posts: 163

    @ethicalpaul I agree completely and if i could fix and be on top of all the leaks in this building i would. There's only so much I can do here. Many of these small leaks go unreported. Luckily this is a 2 pipe so I dont really have to worry about radiator vents. I do check the main vents and plan of pushing some Gorton # 2 vents.

    Located in durham NC.

    ethicalpaul
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,308

    If you can't get the leaks in a timely fashion (understandable) then in my amateur opinion, you could use heated distilled water for makeup water on basically an infinite timeline without increasing the damage to the boiler, if that is possible. How much water are you adding how often to this monster?

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,939

    @hot_rod and @RayWohlfarth know a lot more about this, you almost have to treat it like process steam.

    luketheplumber
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,308

    Treat it like process steam because of all the leaks you mean? Or some other reason?

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 15,939

    because of the leaks

    ethicalpaul
  • Captain Who
    Captain Who Member Posts: 504

    https://www.chemworld.com/Boiler-Water-Test-Kit-p/cw-bwtk200.htm

    https://www.rhomarwater.com/Steam_Treatment.html

    A couple of links for you. Nothing is cheap. A new boiler especially.

    hot_rod

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