Utica Steam Boiler - PEG112CDE - Banging Pipe during first 1/2 hour startup
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Utica Steam Boiler - PEG112CDE - Banging Pipe during first 1/2 hour startup
Hi,
I have Utica Steam Boiler - PEG112CDE for Heating system in my house and it is making very high Noise from banging pipe. We have single pipe systems (Same pipe where steams goes water comes back).
We have done following by hiring three different plumber and none of them able to figure out the actual issue:
1) Replaced all Air Vent on all Radiators (6 Radiators)
2) Leveled all radiators to make sure Steam water goes back to boiler.
3) Cleaned Boiler for any rust or dirt.
4) Reduced pressure It was 5 psi brought down to 1.5 psi
5) Ensured all steam pipes are pitched such a way to water can go back to boiler.
After all of the above still issue persist.
Can anyone please give us some hint where to look for ?
Thanks In Advance.
I have Utica Steam Boiler - PEG112CDE for Heating system in my house and it is making very high Noise from banging pipe. We have single pipe systems (Same pipe where steams goes water comes back).
We have done following by hiring three different plumber and none of them able to figure out the actual issue:
1) Replaced all Air Vent on all Radiators (6 Radiators)
2) Leveled all radiators to make sure Steam water goes back to boiler.
3) Cleaned Boiler for any rust or dirt.
4) Reduced pressure It was 5 psi brought down to 1.5 psi
5) Ensured all steam pipes are pitched such a way to water can go back to boiler.
After all of the above still issue persist.
Can anyone please give us some hint where to look for ?
Thanks In Advance.
#2
Member
The banging pipes are caused from the steam and condensate meeting. Could you post more pics of the near boiler piping and main lines. See if you can find which pipe or pipes are banging and make sure all lines are pitched back to boiler and there are no sagging elbows or fittings going under beams and then raising back up creating a pocket. It doesn't take much.
#3
Member
Thread Starter
Thank you very much. I was not present when all plumbers came to fix problem. Finally I had a time to tackle this issue. I went through all radiators and checked with Level to make sure they are pitched such a way so water can go back to single pipe. There were two radiator which was banging, were not pitched correctly. One of the radiator is very long and if you look at from pipe side, you can see it had pitched correctly but from opposite site it was not pitched correctly due to long length of radiator. This long radiator was causing biggest noise. After adding wood plates under the radiator to pitch it correctly, problem stopped instantly.
I asked my previous plumber whether radiator were pitched correctly and he said he did corrected them which was not the case. He did put some wood under radiators but he leveled it instead of creating pitch so water can go back.
Big Problem, Big Headache, Very Simple Solution if one knows how to fix it.
Anyways, thank you very much for your time and I am happy that no more banging noise. My tenant is happier than ever now.
I asked my previous plumber whether radiator were pitched correctly and he said he did corrected them which was not the case. He did put some wood under radiators but he leveled it instead of creating pitch so water can go back.
Big Problem, Big Headache, Very Simple Solution if one knows how to fix it.
Anyways, thank you very much for your time and I am happy that no more banging noise. My tenant is happier than ever now.
Last edited by mamin; 11-20-16 at 12:07 PM.
#4
Member
Thread Starter
Resolved
Sorry folks, problem came back and it got worst again. Finally I was able to figure out the issue and it has been three weeks without problem so I would conclude as it is fixed.
Issue was water level was too high in site glass due to automatic water feeder was feeding too much water into boiler causing pressure rise very high and creating banging pipe, spitting out water from radiator valve etc. To test, I turned off automatic water feeder for couple of days and lower water level to 3/4 height of site glass and it did not create any problem during this time. Finally to correct issue from water feeder, I changed setting 2 to 3 (McDonnell & Miller ) which waits little longer before feeding water. No more overfeeding water anymore.
I had similar issue at my other rental place after that and I replaced water feeder (McDonnell & Miller) with Hydrolevel VXT-24V and issue was fixed. Anytime when you high water it create extra pressure in system and pipe starts banging and water spitting out of radiator if it is too much water in system.
Irony is about 5 plumber who checked my system, none of them was not able to figure out such a simple problem. I would think someone with some plumbing experience would know such a simple issue. In fact one of the plumber gave me quote to replace all pipes in system.Thankfully I did not take his offer.
Issue was water level was too high in site glass due to automatic water feeder was feeding too much water into boiler causing pressure rise very high and creating banging pipe, spitting out water from radiator valve etc. To test, I turned off automatic water feeder for couple of days and lower water level to 3/4 height of site glass and it did not create any problem during this time. Finally to correct issue from water feeder, I changed setting 2 to 3 (McDonnell & Miller ) which waits little longer before feeding water. No more overfeeding water anymore.
I had similar issue at my other rental place after that and I replaced water feeder (McDonnell & Miller) with Hydrolevel VXT-24V and issue was fixed. Anytime when you high water it create extra pressure in system and pipe starts banging and water spitting out of radiator if it is too much water in system.
Irony is about 5 plumber who checked my system, none of them was not able to figure out such a simple problem. I would think someone with some plumbing experience would know such a simple issue. In fact one of the plumber gave me quote to replace all pipes in system.Thankfully I did not take his offer.
#5
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Delaware, The First State
Posts: 12,682
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Good to hear you got it fixed. Steam is a whole different animal from hot water & not a lot of service people are familiar with the finer points of steam. Dan Holohan has several good books on the subject. They are available thru amazon or on his site: heatinghelp.com