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Posted by Harold hydronicnetwork.net on January 12, 2004 at 07:20:07:
In Reply to: Water level in sight glass posted by EddieH. on January 12, 2004 at 06:45:17:
"Don't fix it if it ain't broke."
You won't affect the steaming rate or the efficiency that you can notice until you fill it so much that water is sprayed out of the boiler into the main. A slow steaming rate is good as long as the air venting speed matches at the radiation.
Keeping heat in a boiler is wasting heat; a boiler is a very inefficient storage tank due to its limited insulation and hole in the middle to the outside. The heat is needed at the radiation. If heat is taken from the boiler through a tankless coil while the burner is off after a heat cycle, that is an added benefit in efficiency.
The newer boilers hold less water than the old and the castings are lighter due to more precise casting methods, so they steam faster. This can create problems when installing a new boiler in an old system, due to the change in the steaming rate and reduced water volume.
A lower water level in the glass can mean running out of water to the cutoff on a heating cycle. Perhaps you were told to leave it where it is at because it has no problems there.