Boiler Pressure Release valve leaking with power out

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Fod01

Feeling the Heat
Nov 4, 2008
470
Long Island
Hi,

Still without power since Monday night. Tuesday I noticed water coming out of the boiler pressure release valve.

System is oil-fired hydronic, 2 zone, with a coil for DHW. The system was maintained earlier this year.
I isolated the boiler by shutting all feeds to it, as well as the baseboard returns. Right now the system has 0 pressure.

Once power is restored, and I add water back in to the system, will the valve work properly once the unit is back up to heat, or does it need to be serviced?

Thanks in advance,
Gabe
 
Relief valves have a nasty habit of leaking because junk gets under the seat on them. I'm betting the valve partially lifted off the seat at some point and got scale on the seat. You may be able to flush the valve but more often than not you have to replace it to get it to stop leaking.
 
Relief valves have a nasty habit of leaking because junk gets under the seat on them. I'm betting the valve partially lifted off the seat at some point and got scale on the seat. You may be able to flush the valve but more often than not you have to replace it to get it to stop leaking.

Thank you. Utility trucks are in the area, and I've got my oil guy on standby. I'll try to start it up if the power comes on. If there's any issues, I'll be calling him.

Gabe
 
Thank you. Utility trucks are in the area, and I've got my oil guy on standby. I'll try to start it up if the power comes on. If there's any issues, I'll be calling him.

Gabe

If it leaks after you heat the unit back up, try manually opening the relief to flush any crud out and it may re-seat. If not you can buy a new valve usually for around $30 or so. Sometimes having the unit up to pressure will also solve the leaking issue but be aware that long term you may need to have a new valve on hand.
 
If it leaks after you heat the unit back up, try manually opening the relief to flush any crud out and it may re-seat. If not you can buy a new valve usually for around $30 or so. Sometimes having the unit up to pressure will also solve the leaking issue but be aware that long term you may need to have a new valve on hand.

The power came back on around 3pm Sunday thanks to help from an out of state utility crew.

The relief valve was replaced in the spring. 'Flushing out the crud' a couple times did the trick.
Thanks for the advice. Now to re-stock the fridge!

Gabe
 
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