My National boiler was installed when this house was build in the 1920's. It has served us well over the 50 years we have lived here. Until recently. My water "suddenly" became scalding hot. I thought it was a simple case of adjusting some temperature gauge on the boiler which I think my past-husband used to do.
I called a plumber, not for the boiler, but to replace a leaking set tub in the basement a few weeks ago.. When he was here, I mentioned the scalding water and he looked at my boiler and said there were some piping issues that needed to be fixed. (My former HVAC man just told me not to call him unless I had a problem, such as the boiler not working.) Repair men are not easy for find for these old systems.
By word of mouth I located a Master plumber (and heating) man, who seems very, very knowledgeable about these old boilers. He is 78 years old with over 45 years' experience.
He came back and drained the boiler to do all the work, He repaired the section of the return and the steam pipe which is part of the return. He also replaced other rusty parts. When we was finished, he told me to watch for any leaks. I did not see any, until the second day and I noticed a tiny drop coming from the return line where it enters the bottom of the boiler. He had not touched this end of that return.
When I noticed the drip, he was away on vacation. I also noticed that the water in the sight glass went up very creepingly during the course of the day. I kept draining it when it went up too high. When I turned the temperature up one day on my thermostat, I heard loud hissing and went downstairs to see a cloud of steam coming from a vent near the ceiling. The pressure gauge(?) original with the boiler, went from 1 to 4. I had never see this happen before. The plumber told me not to worry about the gauge going up to 4 because it was not working anyway, but I still wondered why it moved up......
I shut off the boiler and was without heat for 5 days. It was not warm in MA last week. Today it is 90 degrees. in the meantime, I was emailing a brother who is a boiler engineer for huge boilers many stories high. He kept reassuring me and trying to explain what was going on.
My plumber came back yesterday and removed the return and the part he had previously replaced and it is all new. He changed the vent that was emitting steam. He changed the valve on the water intake line. He even removed the sight glass and cleaned it. He felt very confident about everything but said that if I saw any more leaks, it would have to be my Everhot All Copper #16 tankless water heater, which would probably need to be replaced.
I put a clothespin on the water gauge to mark the water mark. Sure enough in about 12 hours, it has gone up about 3/4". Also, there is condensation on the top part of the water gauge. I have not ever seen this before either.
I am watching the water line to see just how high the water will go. I have left a VM for the plumber.
I'm sorry, but I don't know the names of all of these parts. I don't know why the valve was emitting so much steam, and didn't understand what he was trying to explain to me. I've never noticed clouds of steam before.
From this long complicated email, what do you think is going on. I have spent about $1800 on it in the past two years (but before that, it was not problematic). Do you think it is the tankless water heater? Do you know why the water is creeping up or why there is condensation inside the glass?
I'm about as old as the boiler but I will have my brother check in and learn what you think.
Thank you so much!!!! Sorry for the long description but so many things have happened in the past two weeks.
Phyl
I called a plumber, not for the boiler, but to replace a leaking set tub in the basement a few weeks ago.. When he was here, I mentioned the scalding water and he looked at my boiler and said there were some piping issues that needed to be fixed. (My former HVAC man just told me not to call him unless I had a problem, such as the boiler not working.) Repair men are not easy for find for these old systems.
By word of mouth I located a Master plumber (and heating) man, who seems very, very knowledgeable about these old boilers. He is 78 years old with over 45 years' experience.
He came back and drained the boiler to do all the work, He repaired the section of the return and the steam pipe which is part of the return. He also replaced other rusty parts. When we was finished, he told me to watch for any leaks. I did not see any, until the second day and I noticed a tiny drop coming from the return line where it enters the bottom of the boiler. He had not touched this end of that return.
When I noticed the drip, he was away on vacation. I also noticed that the water in the sight glass went up very creepingly during the course of the day. I kept draining it when it went up too high. When I turned the temperature up one day on my thermostat, I heard loud hissing and went downstairs to see a cloud of steam coming from a vent near the ceiling. The pressure gauge(?) original with the boiler, went from 1 to 4. I had never see this happen before. The plumber told me not to worry about the gauge going up to 4 because it was not working anyway, but I still wondered why it moved up......
I shut off the boiler and was without heat for 5 days. It was not warm in MA last week. Today it is 90 degrees. in the meantime, I was emailing a brother who is a boiler engineer for huge boilers many stories high. He kept reassuring me and trying to explain what was going on.
My plumber came back yesterday and removed the return and the part he had previously replaced and it is all new. He changed the vent that was emitting steam. He changed the valve on the water intake line. He even removed the sight glass and cleaned it. He felt very confident about everything but said that if I saw any more leaks, it would have to be my Everhot All Copper #16 tankless water heater, which would probably need to be replaced.
I put a clothespin on the water gauge to mark the water mark. Sure enough in about 12 hours, it has gone up about 3/4". Also, there is condensation on the top part of the water gauge. I have not ever seen this before either.
I am watching the water line to see just how high the water will go. I have left a VM for the plumber.
I'm sorry, but I don't know the names of all of these parts. I don't know why the valve was emitting so much steam, and didn't understand what he was trying to explain to me. I've never noticed clouds of steam before.
From this long complicated email, what do you think is going on. I have spent about $1800 on it in the past two years (but before that, it was not problematic). Do you think it is the tankless water heater? Do you know why the water is creeping up or why there is condensation inside the glass?
I'm about as old as the boiler but I will have my brother check in and learn what you think.
Thank you so much!!!! Sorry for the long description but so many things have happened in the past two weeks.
Phyl