Posted by jtown on July 25, 2001 at 05:11:53:
In Reply to: Hydraulic Testing Procedure for Finding Leaks posted by garret on July 24, 2001 at 21:23:49:
To test boilers you shut off all piping to it and fill it completely with water and use a hand pump to take it up to a high pressure. If it splits open the (cold)liquid water will not expand to blow the thing all to hell. Air or steam will, including flash steam created by dropping the pressure below the boiling pressure for the given temp. Small leaks at low pressures may leak steam but not liquid (how gore-tex works). Getting your system totally full and closed off tight probably isn't worth the effort. You probably have a localized leak due to more strain or erosion. I'd fix that one and if you get another in the near future, I'd look at the whole system.