I have a 8 year old Crown boiler for a one pipe steam. I have been losing approx a gallon of water every 4 days and the water level in the sight gauge drops a lot while the boiler is heating. It used to stay pretty level before this leak manifested itself. Also the pressure drops from 1.2psi to 0 abruptly 1-2 times each heating cycle and the radiators don't see steam for a long time, so I am just burning gas away. I have attached some pics.
All returns are above ground and the wet returns are in the basement and though fully insulated, there is no visible water anywhere. I have yet to overfill the boiler to see if there is a leak at the top. I don't see any steam escaping from the boiler, but I have not taken the cover off to confirm this is the case. Probably leave this to a pro. I have not inspected the long header in the unheated crawl space and the dry return because it has been cold in the NYC area. There are no water stains anywhere along the walls or ceilings. I have checked, and none of the radiator valves are leaking. I will perform a tissue wrapper test on each valve to be sure.
How best to find out if one or more risers in the walls leaks since this is possible? Can people who detect leaks using infrared cameras detect steam leaks reliably when these risers are insulated with asbestos which can cause the steam to spread all over the pipe because it is probably loose fitting? Have I left out any troubleshooting approaches?
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