Gravity Boiler Troubleshooting

[pureinsanity]

Remove the old Bell&Gossett reducing valve.

Why? currently it is NOT connected to anything. It is capped off.

I think I just need to drain the whole thing, go to the furtherst or highest radiator and open the bleeder and wait until water comes out...

I think that is my only option. I should only be running 10-12 psi. not 25...

[Surface Tension]

When you fill you open all the vents. When water comes out of the first floor radiators then close that vent.

Once the first floor is done then move to the second floor. If you don't do it that way you'll have air trapped.

If you don't have water hooked up to fill when you open a bleed vent the water pressure should drop.

With vent open your gauge would be reading is the static pressure. Off hand I don't know what that is per foot in elevation but you X that by height.

OK I looked it up .43 psi. So say you have 15' of water above the gauge, it should read 6.45 psi at room temp.

[pureinsanity]

Per a friend in the business.

City water pressure varies. You need to open a bleeder valve upstairs while filling with water. How many floors? 5 pounds per floor for psi.

He said to drain the boiler, open some bleeders and refill.

I am hoping this fixes the problem.

I didn't tend to the boiler last year, father in law did and we were running at 20psi all winter. that is too much.

[pureinsanity]

Per your formula I have close to 60 feet of water. Doesn't seem right. That tells me I have a lot of air pressure in there lol

[Surface Tension]

If your expansion tank is waterlogged then for sure you won't displace air by venting without the water fill hooked up.

I'd find that out first because if it is, the air in the lines and radiators are acting as your expansion tank now.

Once filled and bleed that pressure will build.

[pikechaser]

Not really that complex, but pretty tough to explain on here. Do yourself a favor & call an HVAC Co...Be there watch what they do, ask questions..you'll come away with a wealth of knowledge & a system working to its full potential.

[Surface Tension]

Not really that complex, but pretty tough to explain on here. Do yourself a favor & call an HVAC Co...Be there watch what they do, ask questions..you'll come away with a wealth of knowledge & a system working to its full potential.

Good advice there.

For the record, at first I thought you had an open system, thus the vent through the roof and expansion tank in the attic.

I think your gauge is bad. You shouldn't be reading more psi then what the static pressure is when the vents are open and not having the PRV hooked up to the main.

Not saying you should be running at 6.45 psi I'm saying with vent open that is your static pressure and you should be around there + or - according to the height of water.. I believe you have an altitude gauge on the boiler as well and that will give you an indication of the height of water in your system. Those help when filling the system. After the radiators are filled water is added to the expansion tank. So say your going to run at 12-15 psi(only a number)you have to add water to the system because your static pressure is below the precharge in the tank. As water is pushed into the system it'll go to the tank and you will see the pressure rise. Stop filling when you hit your number. In this case 15 psi.

If the PRV was hooked up and your expansion tank precharged at 12-15 psi you'd be go to go and maybe a little tweaking.

Good chance you'll need to bleed air once in a while at first. Since your not hooked up to the main you'll need to add water if you see a drop in pressure.

[pureinsanity]

No altitude gauge, just one that reads how much water is in the system. But its not reading correctly because of air...

[bgmny]

The guage pressure will read the same with water or air in the system. That guage should be replaced with a new one first to eliminate the chance you are just reading the wrong pressure. If you truly do have 25 lbs. on the system you would have enough pressure to push the water close to 60 ft. vertically. The drain by the reducing valve might be an issue to use as a filler because of the relief valve directly downstream. The city pressure might be enough to pop the relief and make a mess. You would be better off having two people to fill the system. One person to stay by the fill valve and maintain the pressure that you usually run the system at and one person to go around and open the bleeders until a steady stream of water comes out. From your statement about only being able to bleed a little bit of air out, I would guess your guage is wrong and you simply don't have enough water in there.

[HooknHorns]

Ive got a boiler but not the type your having problems with. A few years back I had to remove the reducing valveas stated. Almost went as far as pumping water from a 5 gallon bucket to make sure i had no air bubbles going into the system. The city water had alot of air bubbles for some reason, might be cause i live on a dead end.

When you add water you need to bleed air out at the same time, so its kinda a two man operation if the bleed valve are upstairs. Also make sure your zone valves are operational and open when filling and bleeding. If their bad it wont open to let the heated water flow.

Sometime its better to pay a pro than to mess it up worse and end up paying more. I learned that lesson the hard way. I did learn a little bit by watching a few episodes of this old house. Im not a plumber so take this for what its worth. Just trying to share some thoughts. Sorry just noticed tere was a second page.

[pureinsanity]

Well its half fixed! I had opened all the lines upstairs and filled it up with water until water came out. Closed em off. looked at the pressure gauge and it was 25psi. I was a bit nevervous leaving it at 25 psi so I called in a buddy. He just kept filling it with water trying to get the blow out to pop (30psi) It didn't trip so he manuall tripped it just to make sure it works.

It leaks a little bit so we are replacing it with a new one. Then we shut off the valve to the pressure gauge and took the pressure gauge off. Sure enough it started at 15 psi or so. So the gauge is shot. I am getting a new one, along with the pressure relief valve and I should be good to go!

Thanks for all the tips. After playing with this boiler I have learned alot and realized how easy my system is!

[Surface Tension]

Good to hear and thanks for the update.