Gas boiler leaking

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

goosegunner

Minister of Fire
Oct 15, 2009
1,469
WI
Co worker has a gas boiler with water coming out steady of some type of drain pipe, See picture can you tell me what the pipe is for and why it would have water flowing out?
samboiler.JPG
 
Ok thanks, He said it is a steady flow and the boiler won't run.
 
So guessing internal leak somewhere.
 
Yes he shut it down yesterday and shut off feed to stop flow from pipe.
 
looks like a drain for a pressure relief valve, but i don't see a valve.
 
Same here, but no relief valve.
 
That is a munchkin boiler and the pipe in the photo is the discharge pipe from the pressure relief valve mounted inside behind the jacket (See attached photo for reference). So why is it discharging? I would start with the expansion tank in the system. Check the air charge in the tank, it should read around 12 psi with an air gauge. If there is no air in the tank and you get water out of the air charge fitting, more the likely the bladder in the tank has failed. This would cause an over-pressure condition on the system . Does it leak water all the time, or just when the boiler is firing and bringingimage.png water up to temperature?
 
That is a munchkin boiler and the pipe in the photo is the discharge pipe from the pressure relief valve mounted inside behind the jacket (See attached photo for reference). So why is it discharging? I would start with the expansion tank in the system. Check the air charge in the tank, it should read around 12 psi with an air gauge. If there is no air in the tank and you get water out of the air charge fitting, more the likely the bladder in the tank has failed. This would cause an over-pressure condition on the system . Does it leak water all the time, or just when the boiler is firing and bringingView attachment 177897 water up to temperature?


Thanks for the information, from what he described it is leaking all the time when the water is turned on.

He is not using heat now and is hoping to fix it before next season. He had a company stop to look at it and they said $7500 to install a new boiler.
 
Had something similar happen with a relief valve on a hot water tank. Solution just manually opened the valve full flow for a a second or two and it quit weeping .
 
Yep - could just be a piece of dirt in the relief valve. First place I'd start, anyway. Should also be a pressure gauge on it that should show the pressure situation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.