Keep Your Boiler Running - know what the stuff is.

[IMG_1752](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:Qm04:img_1752.jpeg.jpg)
These are the major players in your steam boiler’s control system.

The sight glass’s only job is to let you know how much water is in the boiler. It plays no role in the production of steam.

The pigtail’s job is to fill with condensate (water) which protects the pressure gauge and pressuretrol mounted above it from the damaging hot steam. It should be made of brass. Some are made of steel, are black in color, and are far more likely to clog and create pressure problems in the system.

The pressure gauge’s only job is to show us the pressure in the boiler. Just like the sight glass, there is no functional role in the production of steam with this device.

The pressuretrol, Honeywell’s invented word, is a combination of “pressure” and “control”. It is the device we use to set our operating steam pressure. While it is not the best device to perform this function, it is included with every boiler and does a decent job. An upgrade to this is a device called a vaporstat. Regulating and controlling pressure in a steam system is vitally important in keeping noise, balance, and fuel use in check.

The low water cutoff senses water at the minimum operating level in the boiler. When it stops sensing the presence of water, it cuts power to the burner wiring. When water is restored, it allows power to the burner again. If you’ve got an automatic water feeder, and you should, the low water cutoff will activate that feeder when the water in the boiler gets low.

The drain valve is a place to remove water and some sediment from the boiler.

Master Plvmber

in General Discussion 4 years and 8 months ago

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lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Love it!!

lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Love it!!

Master Plvmber | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Hi, Chris. Yes! This has become a hotly debated topic in my shop, too. I have a practical opinion and a professional opinion on draining/flushing the boiler. My practical opinion is that it doesn’t do anything significant for the health of the boiler. My professional opinion is that people REALLY want to drain the boiler and the person that tells them not to is going to sound like an idiot since their father, grandfather, uncle, and all of their friends and neighbors have been flushing their boilers since the beginning of time.
As you know, flushing a steam boiler was something we used to do to keep the float clean on an old float-type low water cutoff (LWCO). Any boiler using this device NEEDS to be flushed weekly or bi-weekly at most, and we’ve seen the results of a system neglected of this basic maintenance task. But on a newer, smaller steam boiler that uses one of the many probe-type LWCOs on the market, flushing a gallon of water from that little ¾” hose spigot on the bottom has little effect on the boiler and does nothing for the probe which is a water sensor scr ewed into the cast iron block. Steam boilers are best serviced by either being drained completely, then refilled and drained again (and again?), then fired up and put into service. Or, some boilers require having the return tapping plug removed and flushed through their large 2″ port. That’s a proper cleaning. And adding chemicals should be a last resort.

lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Master Plvmbr (going by codenames is more fun)
I give this question to our team every year and love to hear the debate that follows. Should you drain your boiler on a regular basis? Not to clear the float like Urbandad said (great advice) but to keep the water “clean.”
Love to see what side of the room you would sit on during this breakfast!

lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Master Plvmbr (going by codenames is more fun)
I give this question to our team every year and love to hear the debate that follows. Should you drain your boiler on a regular basis? Not to clear the float like Urbandad said (great advice) but to keep the water “clean.”
Love to see what side of the room you would sit on during this breakfast!

Master Plvmber | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Urbandad, great post of your experience and good advice about low water cut offs. Thank you.

hkapstein | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Happened to me once with the float type lwc. Float got stuck in the low water position and operated the fill valve. Here’s what happened. Water filled the boiler and then the steam risers and then the radiators. The air vents on the radiators closed when the water reach them. When the system fired water squirt out of the vents a little bit and left brown marks on the wall, but nothing that didn’t wipe off easily. To fix the problem we drained down the whole system from the boiler drain. I replaced the float type lwc with a probe type.

I get my boiler turned up yearly, so I have the guys check the probes, and that’s easier for me than blowing down the lwc weekly. If you have the float type, make sure you do the blowdowns or it will eventually muck up.

Master Plvmber | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Rick, I don’t know any steam-heated building in NYC that doesn’t use an automatic water feeder. They are not prone to failure, though they do, just like every other mechanical/electrical thing on earth, sometimes fail. The good news is they tend to fail to the closed position which results in the boiler just not firing up due to a low water condition. The feeder not shutting off is most often a low water cutoff problem but you’re right in thinking that’s something that happens.

Rick | 4 years and 8 months ago

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MP are automatic water feeders really safe over a manual feed ? I can picture an auto-feed failing by not shutting off. That would be a real problem.

mozeeatupu | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Now please do one for a hot water system.

lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Listen to this man; he knows his stuff! Knowledge is power; especially in your home.
The amount of boilers I have come across that owners say were “serviced every year by our local plumber” only to have issues you could identify from reading a Heating for Dummies book is unreal!

lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago

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    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Listen to this man; he knows his stuff! Knowledge is power; especially in your home.
The amount of boilers I have come across that owners say were “serviced every year by our local plumber” only to have issues you could identify from reading a Heating for Dummies book is unreal!