I just got a new steam boiler installed and now I am having some serious issues. After turning the heat on, I get a bad water hammer. It seems as if I have two mains coming from the header (not a boiler expert but this seems to be the case). One main delivers steam to the radiators on one side of the house and the second main gets the other side of the house. About 10 or 15 minutes after the water hammer starts, the last radiator on each main has a terrible leak from the radiator vent. Water shoots out of the radiator vent as if it were a faucet. It seems as if the water has no where to go so it shoots out of the radiator vents. I also have two main vents that also leak a little bit of water.
My plumber is going to trouble shoot but he suspects a clogged wet return. There are two wet returns that come together before they enter into the h-loop. The issue is that all the piping is behind drywall. Before he cuts the drywall open, does anyone else have any ideas of what may be going on. We capped the vent on the furthest radiator thinking this may help the issue but that just makes the second furthest radiator leak from it's vent.
Another thing that is odd is that this none of these issues occurred with the previous boiler. Towards the end of the previous boilers life, I did use the Hercules crack sealer. Is it possible some of this sealer has clogged the lines?
Also, my plumber also told me that he accidentally flooded the new boiler right after installing it. He started to fill the boiler and left it unattended for too long. Long enough to actually run water up to the radiators. He said that shouldn't be an issue because no matter how much water entered into the pipes, it still has to return back to the boiler. Is it possible that when he flooded the pipes, he pushed sediment together which is now causing a clog? Another thing I may point out is that since it is weird that both returns got clogged at the same time. Could there be a clog in the return closer to the boiler after the two returns meet?
Lastly, how does one go about clearing the clog in the returns? Do you shoot water or air into the returns? Is there a machine that can do this?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this post.
My plumber is going to trouble shoot but he suspects a clogged wet return. There are two wet returns that come together before they enter into the h-loop. The issue is that all the piping is behind drywall. Before he cuts the drywall open, does anyone else have any ideas of what may be going on. We capped the vent on the furthest radiator thinking this may help the issue but that just makes the second furthest radiator leak from it's vent.
Another thing that is odd is that this none of these issues occurred with the previous boiler. Towards the end of the previous boilers life, I did use the Hercules crack sealer. Is it possible some of this sealer has clogged the lines?
Also, my plumber also told me that he accidentally flooded the new boiler right after installing it. He started to fill the boiler and left it unattended for too long. Long enough to actually run water up to the radiators. He said that shouldn't be an issue because no matter how much water entered into the pipes, it still has to return back to the boiler. Is it possible that when he flooded the pipes, he pushed sediment together which is now causing a clog? Another thing I may point out is that since it is weird that both returns got clogged at the same time. Could there be a clog in the return closer to the boiler after the two returns meet?
Lastly, how does one go about clearing the clog in the returns? Do you shoot water or air into the returns? Is there a machine that can do this?
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this post.