Can anyone offer me some advice as I'm a novice here with steam heat
(and owning a house!)?

I've read and heard about the reasons to flush the boiler - remove
sediment and as a method to test low water cutoff.

My question is, do I flush it with the gas cut off or can I just open
the drain?
And if I do so with the gas off, will draining the boiler still test
the low water cutoff operation.

Thanks in advance,

JT

wrote:

Can anyone offer me some advice as I'm a novice here with steam heat
(and owning a house!)?

I've read and heard about the reasons to flush the boiler - remove
sediment and as a method to test low water cutoff.

My question is, do I flush it with the gas cut off or can I just open
the drain?
And if I do so with the gas off, will draining the boiler still test
the low water cutoff operation.

Thanks in advance,

JT


Flushing the boiler is not recommended, other than to drain off
the worst sediment. Flushing introduces new, fresh water which
raises the dissolved oxygen level and then causes more corrosion.

If you're careful, you can lower the water level to see if the
cutoff trips open. Be ready to shut the thing down manually
if the water level goes below the gage glass and still hasn't tripped.

I think a better test is to open the low water cutoff drain valve;
usually that will lower the level inside the cutoff enough to cause
it to trip open. It's a simple, quick test. Plus, it flushes
sediment out of the cutoff housing.

Jim

Don't forget to add makeup water to maintain boiler pressure levels.

Speedy Jim wrote:
wrote:

Can anyone offer me some advice as I'm a novice here with steam
heat
(and owning a house!)?

I've read and heard about the reasons to flush the boiler - remove
sediment and as a method to test low water cutoff.

My question is, do I flush it with the gas cut off or can I just
open
the drain?
And if I do so with the gas off, will draining the boiler still
test
the low water cutoff operation.

Thanks in advance,

JT


Flushing the boiler is not recommended, other than to drain off
the worst sediment. Flushing introduces new, fresh water which
raises the dissolved oxygen level and then causes more corrosion.

If you're careful, you can lower the water level to see if the
cutoff trips open. Be ready to shut the thing down manually
if the water level goes below the gage glass and still hasn't
tripped.

I think a better test is to open the low water cutoff drain valve;
usually that will lower the level inside the cutoff enough to
cause
it to trip open. It's a simple, quick test. Plus, it flushes
sediment out of the cutoff housing.

Jim