1989 utica boiler drips

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4uzindian

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put a new pressure releif valve on boiler. pressure gauge reads 32psi when runninig.it drips water.should i shut it down let it coll and open a releif valve and bring pressure down.tryed this once and pressure eventualy goes back to 30 +.it has a brand new expansion on it. whats up with this.
 

Jadnashua

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If you have an autofill valve, or even a simple shutoff valve to refill the boiler, it could be leaking. There are good and bad points about using an autofill valve and leaving it open to the main water supply...it will keep the boiler from ever getting too low to safely fire, but it will also mask a slow leak, or, as may be your situation, slowly bleed new water into the system.

So, suggest you shut the valve to the autofeed off (assuming you have one), lower your pressure to your safe operating pressure (nominally 12-14# unless you have lots of stories), and see if the pressure stays stable.
 

4uzindian

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for first answer .i can shut off main feed valve .but whats th peocedure for lowering the pressure..... but but in october 2013 i had a new expansion tank and a new auto fill valve installed ; it is not the adjustable it only has the lever on it. do still think it might be the the auto fill valve that's causing pressure to go to 30-32 ? my third ? is this procedure i found on terrylove.com for lowering pressure.turn of thermastat till boiler goes cold.step2 shut off fill valve ahead of auto fill valve. step 3 release pressure from any spigot on system to bring down to 12psi.did this but pressure went back to 30 -32 psi.? this is a 1989 utica dv boiler. could it be a leak in the coil inside the boiler or does this boiler not have a inside coil? how's that for a question .
 

Jadnashua

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How is your hot water produced? If you have say an indirect WH, the heating coil or jacket of it could have a leak and the house water pressure could be raising the boiler's, as well as if it is an internal coil. To find out if that is a problem, if you have a valve that feeds the indirect from the boiler, shut that off (needs one on the return as well). If it stays stable, you've isolated the leak to somewhere between the feed and return valve you shut.

You could shut off the boiler, and the main water to the house. Open a valve to relieve the pressure on say a cold water faucet. Watch the boiler pressure and just wait awhile...if it drops, it's leaking out through the water heating coil for the domestic water. Turn the main water to the house back on, and it will rise.
 

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Another thing to check.
Do you have the lever in the down position on the feed water valve?
You only lift it up to fast fill the boiler with city water pressure, then return it to down position to limit the pressure to whatever it it set for, it should have a tag on it saying the set psi.
 

4uzindian

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thanks for response. to jadnashu.i have a seperate hot water heater .the main water line from outside goes to thi first then it goes to boiler main feed.i think i underastand your response.. second paragraph i shut main house water feed off and boiler switch. turned cold water faucet on sink few feet away from boiler.pressure did not go down.it's at 20psi cold.this idid after i let it go cold and performed the procedure for lowering presure.let it go to 0 turned water bach on it went right bacck to 20psi cold. to houptec: i never raised the lever on new auto fill valve since replaced in october never touched it.
 

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So if I understand you correctly, the boiler was off, and cold, and when you turned on the city water again, the pressure in the boiler (still off and cold) went to 20 psi?

If that is the case the pressure reducing valve that feeds the cold water into the boiler is faulty or set at too high a pressure if adjustable type.
They usually come pre-set at 12 psi range from the factory and you dont need to adjust them.
I have found them to be clogged up really bad with rust and sediment but you said yours is new.
Is the piping that feeds it old iron pipe or copper?
Maybe a chunk of debris is stuck in your newer feed valve. When they replaced it stuff inside the pipes gets knocked loose and ends up inside the orifices of the valve.
 

4uzindian

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it is a brand new auto feed valve. from that it is copper than it is connected to steel pipe about 4-5 inches then it goes into circulator pump then more steel or cast an elbow then it goes into the boiler .this could be the problem .thanks for quick answer. if this might be the problem i might try to clean it or replce it myself . after the weather turns warm like spring.i know pressure and temp gauge is working cause it goes from 0 to 30.is there any thing else i could do beside shutting it down and cleaning or replaceing auto fill . if not i'll leave like this till spring. when i did the procedure for lowering pressure i let it go down to 0 psi. soon as i turned water back on it went right back to 20 cold. this unit seems to have mind of it's own.it' now since the the new parts have put is still running at 30-31 psi. 140-142 temp.
 

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Most autofill valves are adjustable...you should check on yours and if it is, adjust it so it only fills to around 12-14psi, rather then the 20psi it is doing. Unless you have a very tall house, you do not need more than the 12-14psi there. That gives you a bit more room on your pressure relief valve as well, but the expansion tank, if it is sized and installed properly, should prevent the system from rising much at all.
 

4uzindian

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it is a non adjustable valve .i am going to leave it like this for now .it holds at 30 psi. and most boilers will tolerate 50 psi.unless i call a tech i'll leave like this for now.curious question.if i was t try to purge air out of lines. does the lever on the auto fill valve come into the boiler 001.jpgprocedure? or if you have the time to give me step by step instructions on how to purge air out.picture: those are 2 5lb plastic weights on top of a 2by 4 on top of the pressure releif valve for extra pressure. cause the pressure gauge goes to 30 psi and it drips.so i put the weights on to keep it closed. the yellow levr on left was installed new with the new auto fill and expansion tank.
 
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Houptee

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That is not a good idea putting the weights on the relief valve. Now if it goes way over 30psi it wont relieve the pressure and could make a radiator or baseboard burst and leak inside the house, or damage the expansion tank or the cast iron boiler. The weakest link in the system will blow out.

You might have a lot of air trapped so hook a garden hose to one of the boiler drains in the pic with red handles. One is the return water coming back to the boiler so connect to that and run hose outside then open the valve while the circulation pump is running. The auto fill valve will let new water in while you are draining the old water out along with the air trapped in the system. When you see it coming out solid water no air anymore close the red valve and watch the pressure as it heats back up.
 

4uzindian

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confused.is tis what your telling me. let boiler run with pump running. attach hose to red handle and let drain till no more air comes out.on the blue handles is a tag that says close these valves first before opening red handles to purge air out of system .need a step by step i'm not a pro. your second answer is good i have a watts T1156F auto fill valve.thanks for this info i'm not going to try this just yet till i read your next post.
 

4uzindian

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that for response. i don't have an electric zone valve. the first red knob he cloed .is that the the main water fill valve ? i sent picture of my unit still confused.i have three valves .main feed .the blue knob which i presume is the zone valve. the red one has the spigot for draing.just need a procedure for this . do i turn the thermastat down first ?
 

Houptee

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1)Turn off the boiler power switch so it cant turn on.
2)Connect the garden hose to the red valve (the one near the front of boiler in your picture).
3)Close the blue valve below that red one. (don't touch the other red and blue valves near the rear of boiler)
4)Open the red valve to let the water and air come out into a sink, or outside, or into a bucket.
5)While its draining lift the lever on the feed valve to allow city water pressure to help push more water and air thru the system.

When its coming out clean and no air anymore lower the lever on auto feed valve.
Close red valve to stop water flowing out hose
Open blue valve
Turn on boiler power switch and observe pressure as it heats up
 

4uzindian

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disregard this message glet you know if im goig to or do this today.thanks for answer. i understand your answer.
 
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4uzindian

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keep loosing your last response.wont pop up it poped up im going to leave unit the way it is for right now.probaly post tommorow
 
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4uzindian

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got your post from yesterday.heres the new one.it was at 30psi. slight drip. the i turned the auto fill valve from te 10 oclock position to the 3 oclock position to try to lower. when boiler came on it went to 35 psi the pressure releive vale drained 10 ocnes of water and it went to 35 psi when it stoped running it setteled at 30 psi.i turned the adjusting screw counter clock wise .i adjusted this when it was almost cold. of this do you think it could be the new expansion tank that is the problem.
 
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