<p>I’m posting here because many of you parents have owned various houses throughout your life and I’m hopeful someone will have my answer…</p>
<p>I have a steam boiler at my house that uses oil… I’ve lived here for 2 years… Never had it cleaned… Finally got around to cleaning it (it had been 4 years) and the guy told me it was filthy, I was probably using 3x as much oil as I should have been, and that my glass tube that shows how much water is in there was broken and not reading correctly. They cleaned everything, fixed the glass tube water level reader thing, etc. They taught me about the boiler, what each valve does, and what the low water shut off thing is for. Apparently if the water gets too low, as shown by the tube, then it turns off the boiler and I have to manually add water into it, up to a certain point. (It doesn’t have an auto-fill). Now, ever 4 days or so, the low water light comes on and shuts off my heat and I have to go down and add a little bit of water to the thing. Now, I can see adding water occasionally… as water turns to steam which evaporates and I get that I need to add the water at some point… But every 4 days seems a bit excessive. I never once had to add water in the 2 years leading up to this… Now that very well could have been because that tube thing wasn’t working… but could anyone shed some light on this for me?</p>
<p>Without actually seeing it it’s hard to predict what could be going on, but you are correct in thinking adding water every few days is excessive.</p>
<p>Steam heating systems are, mostly, a closed system. A small amount of steam can escape from release valves on the radiators, but for the most part the generated steam condenses back into water and goes back into the boiler to be recycled. </p>
<p>Other than obvious water leaks around the unit, I would check around if there are any radiators that are ‘hissing’ far more than normal. That might be a sign that a lot of steam is escaping from that radiator. </p>
<p>fendergirl, exercise caution when adding water to a hot steam boiler. The sudden introduction of cold water into a hot core can result in a cracked core. Then you’d really have an expensive mess. Sounds like one or more of your relief valves on the radiators are not holding proper pressure anymore. That is common when these things get old. At least it would be a cheap fix to replace the culprit(s).</p>
<p>We have oil steam. Every 4 days is excessive. I would call the person back that did the cleaning. How old is the boiler?</p>
<p>The glass tube has nothing to do with the boiler’s operation - it’s just a visual display. I hate to say, but filling that often indicates you have a major leak in your system or the boiler itself. We needed to replace our boiler 3-4 years ago, as it was cracked. (We knew about it for a year and just let it limped along. We knew when we started filling it weekly, the end was near.)</p>
<p>Going forward, I would recommend you get it cleaned every year.</p>
<p>It’s a Burnham. The furnace guy told me to keep an eye on the water levels when he was here cleaning it because it was a little low at the time and that water in the tube should be kept at about half way full. It seems like the low water thing kicks on at about 1/2 inch under that, which is where it was today, monday, and last week thursday. I filled it back up to the half way point. So it seems to be losing about 1/2 inch of tube water (I don’t know how much that is really) every 4 days. Unless that tube is just somehow misrepresenting what’s happening. I only just started using this heat last week on Monday. I normally use my heat pump.</p>
<p>The radiator in my bedroom hisses and whistles much louder then the radiator in the living room… That I know for a fact. I’m not sure about the ones in the other rooms. it hisses very very loud for a certain period of time, then it settles down and is normal. I just assumed that was normal for this kind of heat. To be honest with you, I don’t know what they are supposed to sound like. I grew up with electric. How do you replace one of those pressure relief valves? Can I just turn the valve on the radiator shut a little bit? Will that reduce some of the pressure they are exerting? I don’t see any water leaks anywhere downstairs. The backflow preventer was leaking a tiny bit, and that got replaced a few weeks ago. I don’t know exactly how old the boiler is… it doesn’t look ancient or anything. I plan to get it cleaned every year… I just had forgotten about it upon moving in to the house. </p>
<p>Toblin, i have only added water to it when it was cold… I didn’t want to mess anything up adding cold into hot. I can call them back and have them look at it, I just was hoping this was something someone would know an answer to. I can’t keep taking off work for house projects.</p>
<p>Do not regulate the flow into the radiator with the floor valve. The valves on the radiator come in a variety of sizes and that’s how you regulate how slow/fast the radiator heats up.<br>
Since it’s steam, you will unlikely see water anywhere, because the escaping water just evaporates into the air. Was the person who serviced the boiler a plumber or a dedicated boiler tech? A tech would be more familiar with the quirks of a boiler.</p>
<p>I do have a question… Every once and awhile there is a big banging downstairs… I just researched that online and it says this:</p>
<p>Water Hammer or banging pipes. This is a common problem that can be reduced if not eliminated with the proper devices. Water hammer occurs when the condensed water meets the steam. Cool water meeting hot steam causes the pipes to expand and contract rapidly. This makes it sound like someone is down in the basement beating on your pipes with a hammer. The system could have a problem with the return condensate water getting back to the hartford loop and eventually the boiler. It could mean a strainer or trap is plugged with sediment and limiting the return of condensate water returning to the boiler.</p>
<p>Could that be it? Maybe the water just isn’t getting returned to the boiler somehow?</p>
<p>The person who serviced the boiler is a boiler tech. He’s a nice enough guy… I kind of wish I had his # to call him at home, b/c I’m sure he’d give me advice off the clock where he didn’t have to charge me for it. He was the one who serviced this boiler before I bought the house, so he knows it well… It was funny when he came to clean it, He was like I like what you did with the house, I have been here before but it’s been years! We went downstairs and he showed me his name on the service tag hanging on it. lol! I have a service contract w/ them but I know it doesn’t cover leaking water… so I’m sure it would be all on me. I had to pay for the new backflow preventer when it got installed the other week.</p>
<p>I have a friend that is a plumber, but he would probably tell me to call the boiler place. </p>
<p>So it’s bad to turn those knobs? I have two radiators upstairs that I turned those knobs closed when I bought the house… was I not supposed to do that? I figured why heat my upstairs when I’m not using it…</p>
<p>You should hear no hissing at all. That is where your water is escaping. You need to replace the pressure relief valves on the hissing radiators. It’s not a big deal, and you don’t need a plumber or a boiler tech to do this. The banging would not concern me because most probably it’s just the result of the normal expansion and contraction of pipes and most likely was doing this since the day it was new. Keep us informed.</p>
<p>Ok, Maybe I should just replace that on all of them to be the most efficient. One day last year my friend had the heat turned up really high and my bedroom door was shut and I had all kinds of condensation on my bedroom walls. The one in there is very loud, it wakes me up at night. I’ll have my boyfriend look into how to change those valves. That’s more his kind of thing then mine. He loves when I come up with my projects. =)</p>
<p>No. Not Homedepot or Lowes. You want to take one out and bring it to a plumbing supply store. Google one in your area. They will be happy to supply you with the correct replacement. You’ll need need white plumbers tape too. They will tell how to do it.</p>
<p>Hissing is normal on most steam radiator systems. When the system turns on, valves on the radiator allow the air inside to escape to speed up filling it with steam. On water based radiators you would only hear them hissing when manually bleeding out air. </p>
<p>If the valve was malfunctioning its possible for the system to lose significant quantities of steam here, but a little hissing at system start-up is totally normal and nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>rocketman, is like 10-20 minutes + of loud continuous hissing too much? that’s how the one in my bedroom is. We have covers on the radiators. Maybe I should take it off and listen to where exactly the noise is coming from.</p>
<p>update - after like 20 some minutes of hissing, i’ve determined that the one in the bedroom has to be (at least one of) the culprit. I just looked at my wall above the side of the radiator where the cap and valve are, and there are like sweat streaks on it. Kinda like how you get streaks on your mirror in your bathroom when it steams up. That’s not normal.</p>
<p>It’s a “pressure relief valve”, a safety thing that is supposed to let steam pressure out when your boiler’s master pressure safety malfunctions. The radiator’s pressure relief valve sounds like it’s old and weak and releasing pressure out below the design threshold. Call a plumber and tell him you need a new pressure relief valve on one of your radiators.</p>
<p>Wow I am so excited it seems that some one has the same type of boiler as me. I have to automatically add water, which I did. Now, the piolot line is on but it is not lighting. I filled the tube all the way up. Is that too far? AFter I fill up the tube…should the valves at the top and bottom of the tube be open or closed after i fill the tube/ Any help would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Patty, your water should be about half way up the tube… you have way too much water in there now… I’m pretty sure the valves above and below the tube have to be open so the water in the tube can adjust itself in there. My tech drew a line on the tube for me with a sharpie marker so I don’t forget where it’s supposed to be. Do you have a boiler tech? Next time you have yours cleaned, have them put a line on it for you. Just give them the marker when they are cleaning everything, I’m sure they would be happy to do that for you.</p>
<p>We removed the cover off the radiator in my bedroom and were amazed by what we saw. The air vent on it was completely snapped. You could literally spin it in circles. Steam was just coming right on out of the radiator where the vent used to be connected. Replaced it and I am amazed (literally, amazed) by how quiet this radiator is now. It used to howl!! Everything seems to be running much much better now. I guess we’ll see if the boiler demands more water in a few days. The knocking in the pipes seems to be gone too, (so far, knock on wood).</p>