1950s Boiler

Good old boiler.

1st step is to check the water pressure in the boiler. You should have about 15 psi when the boiler is cold. When the water is heated it may gain pressure to the low 20s but should not be over 25 psi.

The gauge on you boiler may be faulty. Best bet is to get a 0-30 psi gauge at a big box or hardware store. You can install it on a drain valve (flush some water out of the drain valve first) and use this to check against the boiler gauge. Once you know the pressure is ok bleed the radiators on the 2d floor to see if they are air bound.

You could have a water feeder or expansion tank issue. Report back what you find.

That boiler may be old enough to have a manual water feed valve rather than the automatic pressure reducing type feeder that became standard in the 1950s. I had the same model in my house, installed in 1947.

Is there a cylindrical steel expansion tank in the ceiling over the boiler?

Your gauge shows 8 psig of water pressure, not enough to completely fill second floor radiators. The red pointer should have been set at installation to the normal cold fill pressure for your system. This suggests that your pressure reducing (automatic feed) valve is not working, or that a manual valve upstream from it is closed. There is no point in bleeding the upper floor radiators until fresh water can enter the system again.

Your expansion tank is a compression type and needs periodic draining to restore the air cushion. Can you post some photos of the pipe connection between that tank and the boiler?

You appear to have a gravity hot water system with a steel compression tank to maintain balance and flow in the system as I see no circulators or wiring for them. I always liked how these systems worked.

Steel compression tanks are not ment to be drained and refilled periodically as it allows oxygen back into the closed system.

A steel compression tank has either a drain-o-tank valve or an airtrol valve or both.

You have a single Honeywell clamp on aquastat that is set at 170 degrees for the high limit to get the water moving by using the thermostat in your home to activate the boilers burner to heat the water.

you increase the pressure and bleed the upper radiators. 8 psig can push the water up at most 18 ft.

the compression tank looks fine although the air management devices are more for pumped systems and rely on the flow from the pump to pull the air bubbles with the water to some extent. pressure and temp changes will move air to some extent but it works better with a circulator.

that being said, there is no reason not to keep it as a gravity system as long as you are using that boiler.

Wow! Interesting old boiler. The plate says “hand fired,” so it started life burning coal and was converted to gas at some point. That’s useful to know for a few reasons.

For the second floor, check these in order:

1. Look at the pressure gauge with the system cold. You need about 12 to 15 psi to push water up to a second floor. If it reads lower, the radiators up there are likely half empty.
2. Bleed the second-floor radiators. Air collects at the top of the system, and an air-bound radiator stays cold even when everything else works.
3. Find out whether there’s a circulator pump at all. Many of these were originally gravity systems with big pipes. If someone added a pump, make sure it actually runs when the thermostat calls for heat.
4. Check the expansion tank. If it’s an old steel tank in the ceiling and it’s waterlogged, the pressure will swing and air will keep getting into the system.

I am not too concerned by the amount of soot. Who knows when it was last cleaned. But the boiler should be cleaned and checkd to see if light off is smooth. The soot marks around the doors could mean the door needs re gasketing and it is just a normal puff from starting. Combustion test is needed.

Yes you lift the fast fill lever like you have done. If it will not feed get a garden hose and a washing machine hose (or a female x female hose connector) and feed the water into a drain valve on the boiler. Or replace the feeder or replace the feeder with a ball valve temporally.

that is a gate valve. the gate is stuck if it is only turning 1/8 of a turn. it could be stuck open or closed.

I find it difficult to believe someone installed a boiler with no drain valve, but I guess anything is possible.

Forgive me if this has been covered. That red handled valve is the supply to the boiler. Open is turned counter clockwise. It very well could be jammed up. The grey handled valve isolates the tank.

That "drain valve" should/would be connected to the boiler. That's how it would maintain pressure. What am I missing? Is it nor connected to the boiler? Maybe it would have been connected with a hose to keep it topped up periodically?