Gas Fired Steam Boiler Needs Filling Every Day

[LK1]

I have a gas fired steam boiler (1 pipe) that I used to manually fill once every 3-4 days.

This season I am filling it every day or every other day. Low water shut-off is turning it off and I am waking to cold house .

No water on floor around boiler or obvious leaks.

I can get all the particulars on the manufacturer, etc. Heater seems to be working fine, plenty of heat, just seem to be filling it excessively this year.

Any suggestions on where to start to troubleshoot?

Thanks.

 

[LSUfj]

Does it have any sort of automatic blowdown or drain of dirt water? If not, there has to be a leak somewhere in the distribution system. Either that or a relief valve is leaking steam to atmosphere.

 

[LK1]

No automatic drain. I have to manually drain it to flush it. I'm going to check every vent and radiator shut off valve for signs of leaking.

There is a main steam valve in basement. I'm going to take a close look at that.

Thanks.

 

[fledglingme]

the leak could be from the water jacket in the fire box, in witch case the steam is going up the flue. if, after you inspect the house side and find nothing, i'd look to the boiler. shut down the boiler and visuily inspect the inside. there should be signs of water- pobably at one of the mateing sections. must be an old system, but if you can fit an automatic fill you' that might be cheap enought to avoid having to rebuild the boiler-if that's even possible

 

[haystax]

Not any help with the steam boiler but I can recommend Heating Help Great site that helped me out a ton on my radiant hydronic install on my house.

Good luck!

 

[LK1]

Thanks guys. I'll take a close look at it this weekend. Certainly don't feel like buying a new boiler.

 

[Toyo FJ40]

Is the boiler making pressure? Like Fledglingme said if it's leaking into the combustion chamber it would just blow steam up the chimney and wouldn't build any pressure. I had a boiler that worked fine but blew enough steam up the chimney that you could see it a block away.