Gas boiler leaking

[goosegunner]

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?

 

[huffdawg]

Condensation .. Google how a modulating condensing boiler works..

 

[goosegunner]

Ok thanks, He said it is a steady flow and the boiler won't run.

 

[huffdawg]

Mmmm that don't sound good

 

[goosegunner]

So guessing internal leak somewhere.

 

[huffdawg]

That's what I was thinking .. Shut off boiler , then shut off feed water to see if it stops.

 

[goosegunner]

Yes he shut it down yesterday and shut off feed to stop flow from pipe.

 

[woodsmaster]

looks like a drain for a pressure relief valve, but i don't see a valve.

 

[ihookem]

Same here, but no relief valve.

 

[Fitter 73]

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 bringing water up to temperature?

 

[goosegunner]

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.

 

[hobbyheater]

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 .

 

[maple1]

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.