Hi, I'm new to this forum. A couple years ago we installed an outdoor wood furnace and tied it into our oil fired boiler . We have a heat exchanger between the OWF and oil furnace. We use the oil fired boiler as a back up to the OWF. The problem we have is excessive water coming from the base of the oil fired boiler . It does not produce water all the time . Sometimes it is dry around the base of the oil furnace and sometimes it is wet. Sometimes when heating with the oil furnace there is no water , sometimes when the OWF is on there is water and sometimes no water. The oil furnace technician said we have excessive condensation but for some reason could not explain it. There is no change in water pressure gauge so we don't think the boiler has a leak. We do not use either furnace from april to october and during this time there is no water around the base of the oil furnace. Any insight , assistance appreciated .
condensation from boiler
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Kind of sounds like a leak to me. Most leaks around a furnace will come and go with rising & falling temps, at least at first. With a steady cold water supply, and a pressure regulator, you wouldn't see a pressure drop with a small leak. If you could close a valve on your cold water supply, then keep an eye on the pressure, that would maybe make for a better indicator. Is there a steel shell on the furnace you can remove to get a better look? Do you have a DHW coil in it?
I've never had any condensation on any furnace parts even with RH approaching 100. The only place I have it in my basememt is on cold water pipes feeding the washing machine when there's a bunch of laundry being done.
I've never had any condensation on any furnace parts even with RH approaching 100. The only place I have it in my basememt is on cold water pipes feeding the washing machine when there's a bunch of laundry being done.
Living in VA, I would expect that your heating needs are erratic, especially in the shoulder season - and this Fall in particular is producing lots on non-heating days. Is your OB non-condensing, and do you shut it off on the warmer days? Non-condensing boilers are engineered to be run constantly hot, so if you're recycling cold to hot frequently, that could be why the condensation is showing up, varying by current humidity. Or, the cold/hot cycles could have caused the OB to spring a small leak as Maple said. And this would also happen if you heated the OB with the OWB - it's still the same cold/hot effect.
How is is exhausted?
My cast iron boiler is not a condensing unit, BUT it is a cold start unit.
Where my exhaust goes vertical I have a T and the boiler connects to the horizontal part. On that T is a piece of 1/2" tubing that runs to the drain. It makes WAY more water than I ever thought... when the boiler is running hard probably 1/2 a gallon a day.
My cast iron boiler is not a condensing unit, BUT it is a cold start unit.
Where my exhaust goes vertical I have a T and the boiler connects to the horizontal part. On that T is a piece of 1/2" tubing that runs to the drain. It makes WAY more water than I ever thought... when the boiler is running hard probably 1/2 a gallon a day.
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