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Posted by HeatPro on November 01, 2007 at 10:46:28:
In Reply to: Re: setting water level in steam boiler posted by charlie on November 01, 2007 at 10:26:22:
The water level is set by the 101A auto feeder according to you. The auto feeder is there as a "good idea" by someone who thought NOT looking at the water level was a benefit. Most other owners look at the water level one per week at least and fill it with the hand valves on the gauge open. They also blow the mud off the bottom of the boiler from the bottom boiler drain at that time.
Novice steam boiler owners then believe that the boiler can be ignored until they are in deep doo-doo from ignoring the ordinary drain and fill procedure weekly. A severe problem is that the sediment is never blown off the bottom so the casting burns and leaks, and the auto feeder valve seat eventually gets stuck open with a piece of dirt so the system fills to the top until all the air vents acts a sprinklers to warp floors and ruin everything. If the feeder strainer clogs because so much water passed through due to a leak, then it is often time for a new boiler.
A properly operating non-leaking residential boiler system needs little water in a week, so has no need of an automatic feeder to catch up. While McDee and wholesalers might hate me for not helping them sell a commercial control like an auto water feeder to a homeowner ... well, too bad.
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