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  • PhilKulkarni
    PhilKulkarni Member Posts: 118

    Paul, the rust particles that clog my vents are from the carryover. There is water in them but they still work until the particles get the better of them. Each Vent rite has a tongue that seems to drain the water back into the rad but does fall victim to the rust.

    As for where the oil is coming from, I can confidently eliminate my pipes. As I have two mains and each of them has a section of counterflow pipes, whatever oil was in them(they were repiped for eliminating a bullhead tee) must have come right back in the boiler via the drips by now, if not in the first year of operation. I really am flummoxed.

    109A_5, I have been skimming exactly as you have described. There is no steam coming out of the nipple+ ball valve+elbow I connect to the boiler above the water line. It is a full 1.25” connection. I run the boiler for 8 mins from a cold start, more than a third less than the 13.5 mins it takes for steam to reach my closest Big Mouth. After skimming for 30-35 mins, I close the manual feed, drain the excess water, and take a small water sample, let it cool and test the PH. If it is under 10, I add a bit of the 8-Way.

    I have experienced tons of carryover with too much 8-Way. When I drained the water and rid of the 8-Way, the boiler worked perfectly. I then added the 8-way in measured volumes, tested the PH and now have found the right amount to achieve a PH of 10.

    It has been 29 days since I skimmed, and the weather has been gradually warming, but the telltale oil slick has just appeared in the sight glass. The water does surge a bit more than before but in 5-6 weeks the boiler will gradually build pressure and the water level in the glass will drop more than half. I will post pics then.

    Thanks for your input.

    ethicalpaul
  • 109A_5
    109A_5 Member Posts: 4,053
    edited March 31

    Since this situation seems chronic and IMO it should not be. If it was my boiler I'd back way off on the 8-Way or forget about it entirely until the oil situation is resolved. Puking carryover up into the system is not good as you are finding out.

    I'm not a Chemist, I'm just wondering with a pH of 10 along with the oil creates a paradox that dramatically increases the difficulty of removing the oil in a timely manor.

    National - U.S. Gas Boiler 45+ Years Old
    Steam 300 SQ. FT. - EDR 347
    One Pipe System
    ethicalpaul
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,812

    I agree with @109A_5

    Get your water figured out and settled down before adding any more 8-way. I do think it exacerbates surging in the presence of oil.

    As I have two mains and each of them has a section of counterflow pipes, whatever oil was in them(they were repiped for eliminating a bullhead tee) must have come right back in the boiler via the drips by now,

    But every time it surges into the main (which is very easy with oil), the oil is distributed all through your mains.

    But even still, I feel there is something else going on

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • PhilKulkarni
    PhilKulkarni Member Posts: 118

    Certainly worth a try. I will not use the 8-Way after the next skim and see what happens. Past experience has shown that I have to take off and clean the rad vents more often when I was not using it. Thanks for the suggestion.

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