steam heating system issue - water in pipes

Hi, we have this recurring issue with our steam system in a brownstone, which I would like to describe and ask for your advice. We have a McLellan furnace from the late 1990s which we use to heat the house. We have two main pipes forking towards the front and back of the house and which then rise to heat all floors. Every two months or so, we notice that early in the morning when the system kicks up there is very audible noise in the rising pipe at the back of the house, which I would be tempted to attribute to a mix of steam and water bubbles that seems to sloshing around in the pipe. You know it makes like a “coming-and-going” noise. In the past we even have had a water hammer forming. I know that draining/bleeding the furnace off all of its water completely will temporarily fix the problem. So I am pretty sure that it is an issue of accumulating water, which condensates when the system is off and then leads to the nasty combination when the system starts up again. Tell me if you think I am talking nonsense here please? Since the bleeding seems to be removing the water completely, I do not believe that there is a pitch problem anywhere in the system, ie. the furnace seems to be the low point in the house. But I do not understand what makes that water accumulate? Is that a known issue with old furnaces? Any hints? Any recommendations? Thanks for any help and guidance you can provide. chrisemma

chrisemma

in Plumbing 10 years and 10 months ago

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eman134 | 10 years and 10 months ago

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you may also have a faulty automatic water feed or slightly open bypass valve on the boiler that is adding too much water to the to the system

steam_man | 10 years and 10 months ago

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steam_man | 10 years and 10 months ago

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Perhaps this will make sense. Imagine that the water line shown in my sketch extends from wall to wall in your house. Any pipe connected to your boiler below that water line is “underwater” all the time. If there is a clog in the return the water will not drain back to the boiler. When you drain the boiler it lowers the pressure pushing back against the clogged water allowing that clogged water to return somewhere (the boiler) and that is why the problem seems to be solved when you drain the boiler. Finding the clog is unimportant in that the whole return between the effected riser and the boiler needs to be cleaned or replaced.

http://www.stevenfontas.com/cms/templates/html/57/images/filler.png

chrisemma | 10 years and 10 months ago

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Hi, thanks for your reply. That makes a lot of sense, but how come then that draining the boiler completely (like removing a couple dozen buckets of water) will seemingly make that problem go away for a while? Also, how would one identify where the clog is and how to fix that? chrisemma

Master Plvmber | 10 years and 10 months ago

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Your problem sounds like a partially clogged return pipe serving the rear riser. A slow return will cause water to stack up into the main creating the sloshing and water hammer you describe. Oh, and you don’t have a furnace, you have a boiler.