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Overfilling boiler

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gibbons66
gibbons66 Member Posts: 1
in Strictly Steam

I have a SGO-3 Weil McClain steam boiler it has no automatic water feeder two shut off valves to add water i have a return line that leaks but not real bad that I have to fix but the boiler is overfilling at least once a day I have to drain like 4 pails of water out of it I have no idea how water is getting in it

Comments

  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,932

    Do you have a 2 pipe system with a condensate line buried in concrete???

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 27,785

    Is there a domestic hot water coil in the boiler? Or an indirect water heater hooked up somehow? Either of those can leak domestic water into the boiler.

    Otherwise, somewhere there is a connection from your domestic water to your boiler which is allowing water to get in. What kind of shutoff valves are you talking about? If they are ordinary globe valves or older gates, that's the first place I would look.

    I would add that getting that much fresh water into your boiler every day is going to guarantee a short and miserable life for it…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 12,724
    edited 3:19PM

    Based on the limited information, (no auto feed), this sounds like a passing manual feed valve.

    Can you take a photo of the boiler and the water feed line with the 2 manual valves and maybe more photos from farther back so we can see all the pipes from floor to ceiling near the boiler

    EDIT: Two manual water feed valves sounds like an old valve may have failed and rather than replace the bad valve someone added a second valve. perhaps the second newer valve is now going bad.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • leonz
    leonz Member Posts: 1,932

    Good morning to you Ed

    That was my first thought; but I figured I would ask if it was two pipe system first.

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