On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:18:16 -0500, "Ray Jenkins"
wrote:

A little history is necessary:

In 1995 our 80-year-old six-unit apartment building replaced our
furnace-boiler. From the start steam came out of the chimney. That seemed to
grow worse until 2004, when the steam got really bad and soon the boiler
broke down.

We replaced the boiler -- and there was no steam at all. The new one was
much more efficient.

But this morning when the temperature dipped down into the single digits, I
saw steam coming out of the chimney for the first time. It wasn't a great
deal, but enough to cause a little alarm.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has had experience in this sort of thing.

The other night my sewer froze when the outdoor temp got to MINUS 39
deg. F. I let some water out of the sink, and the toilet overflowed
and the water ran into the heat register. The furnace was running
almost continuously and I soon noticed condensation everywhere. I
opened the rear door to run a hose outside to the sewer pipe cleanout,
to pump some hot water into the pipe. (this happens at least once
every winter). When I opened the door, there was a cloud of steam
coming out the door like a huge cloud. I never seen anything like
that. Of course the door had to remain open about an inch for the
hose, so the steam kept pouring out the door. There are actually 2
doors, since there is an unheated porch on the back, and that tin
porch ceiling became coated with thick frost.

Yes, I did get the pipe opened again after over 2 hours of fighting
with it.