Hi everybody,

I just noticed some semi-dried sludge by the boiler and the water heater in
the basement. They seem to come from two copper drainage pipes, one
connected to the boiler and the other to the water heater. I don't know much
about home plumbing. What's going on ? Should I be concerned
?

I also noticed the boiler seems to come on every two or three minutes. I'd
hear a clicking/spark-like sound, following by the sound of air
blowing/flowing. After a minute or two it would change to a softer air
blowing/hissing sound. After another minute or two I'd hear the
clicking/spark-like sound again, and the whole cycle would repeat. Is this
normal ?

Thanks in advance.

Is water comming out of a pipe on the Boiler on a regular basis? Is it
HW or Steam. If HW It could be water level-pressure is to high forcing
the pressure relief on top to open, bad thing. Since you know zero about
this dont you think a good cleaning and inspection are in order before
you have a major issue. Over pressure issues can ruin a boiler to crack,
constant refilling can build scale, reduce efficiency and ruin it as
well. Your 2-3min cycles are very hard on it giving you poor efficiency
because it never heats fully and puts on 10x as much wear on certain
components as a 20-30 minute cycle will. Call in a pro and have him show
you how to monitor water level and have him tune and check out your
systems. You should not DIY.

B.Y. wrote:
Hi everybody,

I just noticed some semi-dried sludge by the boiler and the water heater in
the basement. They seem to come from two copper drainage pipes, one
connected to the boiler and the other to the water heater. I don't know much
about home plumbing. What's going on ? Should I be concerned
?

I also noticed the boiler seems to come on every two or three minutes. I'd
hear a clicking/spark-like sound, following by the sound of air
blowing/flowing. After a minute or two it would change to a softer air
blowing/hissing sound. After another minute or two I'd hear the
clicking/spark-like sound again, and the whole cycle would repeat. Is this
normal ?

Thanks in advance.

Best advice that can be given is to call a professional in to have a
look. If you don't know what your doing or even understand any part of
how your system works, then you have no business working on it. Call a
heating professional to work on your system.

-paul