Having to add water to boiler frequently.

Oatie · January 31

My peerless boiler is 15 years old, and recently this winter i noticed low water on my gauge. I have had to add water every few days to get back to normal level. I went looking for leaks and I found two steam valves hissing and spitting at the valve stem. I repacked both of them. I have not seen any leaking around the boiler or in the return to boiler. I recently cleaned my sight glass as it was clogged at the inlet. What else can i do to try and rectify this issue?

ethicalpaul · January 31

you can carefully overfill the boiler to the header or so to see if water starts leaking out. That is the most concerning and expensive problem I’m afraid.

mattmia2 · January 31

make sure all the vents are closing including the main vents in the basement.

are there returns buried below the basement floor?

Oatie · February 1

The returns are all exposed in the basement. Nothing is buried. I replaced two vents that were not closing. I replaced one main vent last fall. I will overfill the boiler tomorrow to look for leaks.

EdTheHeaterMan · February 1

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1885551#Comment_1885551

To be more detailed on why you can find a leak by overfilling a steam boiler. A very common area for a steam boiler to fail is at or just above the water line. If there are several pin hole leaks there, you may never see it because the steam that is leaking from that point may be leaking into the flue gas side of the cast iron. If that is the case, that steam will just go up the chimney with the hot flue gasses and you may never see it on the floor inside your home.

Turn off the boiler so the burners do not operate
manually feed water so you can get it above the relief valve location
Allow the water to stay there for several hours without the burners operating.
Look inside the boiler to see if there are nay signs of a water leak. You may need to take come covers off to see inside and/or use an inspection mirror. Or the leak may be large enough that it just spills on the boiler room floor in short order.

If that is the case, you will need to operate the boiler for the rest of the cold season while a replacement boiler is installed. That can take some time. Depending on the severity of the leak(s) there may be some boiler sealants that can help you until the cold season is over.

Oatie · February 1

Thanks ED for detailed instructions. Getting the right side of the boilers jacket off with the controls next to impossible. I will try the mirror or use my probe camera to inspect the right side. Thanks everyone for your posts.

patrykrebisz · February 1

Overfilling the boiler by itself is not particularly useful - we all know you have a hole in your boiler.

You need to see how bad the hole is. Can you remove some of the covers, and see inside the chamber? If so, even without overfilling, leaks will be apparent.

If the hole is not an actual hole (steam is leaving through some small cracks or pineholes), you most likely gonna be OK this heating season and so you don't have to freak out (yet). But do start saving for a new boiler (many many thousands of dollars). Remember it takes only 1 gallon of heating oil to evaporate around 10 gallons of water, so you are not wasting that much $ on sending this steam up the chimney instead of into your radiators.

Bottom line: you have a hole in your boiler and you will have to address it in the warmer months. You most likely gonna be OK this heating season. Boiler replacement is insanely expensive due to labor. By waiting until the heating season is over you are not wasting too much $ on extra oil.

ethicalpaul · February 1

Overfilling the boiler by itself is not particularly useful - we all know you have a hole in your boiler.

I sure don't know that

patrykrebisz · February 1

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1885619#Comment_1885619

on 15 year old boiler. $5 bet? (Ed can be the witness)

ethicalpaul · February 1

I'm not saying it doesn't have a hole, I'm saying we don't know. Although, it's a Peerless, not a Burnham so unless these massive steam leaks have been there since day one it shouldn't have a hole.

Long Beach Ed · February 1

Hey, it's been 10 degrees here in New York for two weeks. All my boilers needed water. The things burned more gas in two weeks than in two months last year…

ethicalpaul · February 1

PS: @patrykrebisz I'm a big fan of your youtube videos

patrykrebisz · February 2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1885695#Comment_1885695

And i'm fan of yours!
Though i miss the headshot with the glasses that made you look like a cool crazy mad scientist!

4GenPlumber · February 3

Now I need to know, did you test it yet? Does it have a hole?

dabrakeman · February 3

From the initial post I can't say this sounds like a "massive" leak. In fact assuming he has no autofeed and is manually adding water I am amazed he apparently never had to manually add any water before… My guess is that the cold plus his leaking valves may be all the trouble there is. Never hurts to do the test though.

Captain Who · February 3

If you tape a small ruler/scale to the sight glass you will be able to closely monitor water usage. I can tell if mine goes down by 1/16 in. this way, which would only be 1/2 pint in my boiler. Check it daily is my advice, obviously when the boiler isn't running and condensate has had time to return fully.

It is so good I can see the slight tilt of my waterline in my badly installed setup with 2 in. takeoffs where Peerless says 2-1/2 in. etc. etc. (lots more install mistakes besides that). When the boiler shuts off on tstat being satisfied I can see the water level immediately settle on a slightly lower level.

Put a Dahl (or the like) ball valve at the bottom of your sight glass so you can blow it down periodically and make sure the inlets are open and you are getting a true reading.

Having to add water to boiler frequently.

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