Boiler water feeder problem

After a basement renovation, a Brownstoner reader is having a mysterious boiler issue.

landlord writes:

I recently had my basement redone. Now when I turn on the boiler, the water feeder fills the boiler every 45 minutes or so. I filled the boiler to 75% and turned off the boiler, by morning the boiler was completely empty. There is no sign of water loss from the radiators. The return line is behind a new wall in the basement and there is no sign of water leakage of moisture.

My plumber recommended putting bleach in the boiler and trying to locate the smell.

Brownstoner reached out to John Cataneo of Gateway Plumbing & Heating, who said:

In steam heat systems, after the hot steam has cooled inside your pipes and radiators, the water (or condensate as the pros call it) meets up with an arrangement of piping, called the return, that runs below all the steam pipes. It drains the steam mains and radiators by gravity through pipes sloped to “return” the water to the boiler to be reheated and become steam again. Return pipes are notorious for gathering sludge, clogging and leaking. The good news is that it takes decades in most cases for any real problems to develop. The bad news is that it is inevitable that the return pipes will require replacement some day. That’s where you seem to be right now. Your return has given you all it’s got. You’ll have to replace all or some portion of that network. When having this done, request the inclusion of some flush valves to allow the new lines to be serviced periodically. The old timers didn’t provide for this, but many years later we’re seeing the need for this simple, inexpensive addition.

It sounds like the original poster solved the problem using an infrared camera at the suggestion of another poster, but Cataneo’s suggestion to include flush valves — to allow the new pipe to be serviced — could help prevent it from happening again.

See other posters’ suggestions and give your input over in the original post.

Have answers? Need help with something? Visit the Brownstoner Forum.

[Photo illustration: Barbara Eldredge]

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