question on boiler "mud leg"
following the "we got steam heat" book, I was looking for a blow down valve in the mud leg (for flushing mud from the boiler). I found a pipe at the drain tapping at the jacket right panel. A valve is installed at the end of the pipe. However, openning this valve does not let water out.
is this the mud leg?
Comments
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it’s the low point
I don’t see the valve?
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is this a the mud leg?
the valve is black round globe valve with notched surface, partially covered by a rubber hose
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That looks like the drain valve , most likely it is full of mud ..
There was an error rendering this rich post.
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get a better picture please
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it is pipe from the drain valve tapping
other than this one, there are no other "legs" from the boiler
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The mud leg is an older term. It's just the lowest part of the boiler. If you open the valve, you should get water unless it is plugged.
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That is the boiler drain. Someone extended it from its original location with those fittings and copper. It is most certainly clogged unless it is opened once a week in that configuration. You may be able to blow the clog back into the boiler to get it to drain by hooking a washing machine hose to you water heater and connecting to that drain. Open water heater drain, then boiler drain. Once it blows through, close boiler drain, then water heater drain. Also make sure the water heater drain is clear before trying this. You dont want to blow sediment from water heater into the boiler. You are then gonna need to drain all the nasty stuff you blew into the boiler out.
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I can remove from the drain valve tapping, then use compress air or snake through the tube.
If the tapping is clogged from inside, can it be cleaned using some water jet?
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Do NOT remove the drain valve. You might need it!
Hook up a garden hose and back feed it.
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So if that drain is plugged….when do you think the boiler was last drained? Or proper maintenence done? Draining the mud and gunk is usually part of the annual maintenance procedure.
Many of us crack open the drain once and a while and let say let a half gallon or so out to flush out any sediment that has collected at the bottom.
What does the water look like on this thing in the site glass? I'm guessing it looks like coffee or chocolate milk by now. Does it have a float type or probe type LWCO? If it is a float type you may want to make sure its working and not gunked up.
Some more pictures would help! 😎
And on your original question….instead of blowing any gunk back into the boiler, perhaps you could try a snake first. If you can get it to start to drain you could follow up with a brush.
Don't touch that drain fitting. If something goes wrong or breaks…now you're in a bad spot. If you have to remove anything, remove and replace the valve.
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If you remove it and miraculously clear it, you will have no control when the boiler water dumps out at you. Air may poke a hole through the clog, but not clear it. It would be better still if you removed the valve and installed a full port ball valve with a hose thread adaptor.
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Not a problem because there is a ball valve installed at the inlet, near the gauge glass, that valve can be used for draining the boiler before removing this drain valve
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