EFM 700 stoker boiler pressure issues

I'm currently running my boiler with the water shut off because the auto fill seems to cause it to blow up to 30 lbs if I leave it on. We do have high water pressure, not sure if that is the cause. Anyway, at a temp of 180 the pressure sits at at 10 lbs while the furnace is "idling" (no coal or air push). It seems to be working fine. I did have a small leak last yr but upon the advice of others here put in the "non foaming silicon" and it seems to have worked.

Am I being careless/foolish? The radiators don't leak, from what I can tell ... though these are the old cast iron radiators (approx 20). I'm also assuming, since the stop leak is still in the system, that any leaks that did manifest would seal when the silicon hits the air.

Sure could use your help fellas.

I pin hole leak in the hot water coil can bleed house pressure in to the vessel at a very low rate and "flood" the boiler even with the make up water turned off...just takes a while, but Slow and Steady...

Auto-fill can also fail...
If it does not over pressure with the auto-fill valved off...
The DHW coil is ok...

X2 with the auto fill valve.

If you are running a domestic coil, can you isolate it off to see what happens? I’m guessing if it was valved off you likely checked that by now.

Coils go bad but auto-fills *censored* the bed often too. Right now my brother has to drain water off daily to get the pressure back down due to the auto-fill not working properly. Obviously if we knew this before he fired up it would be a non-issue by now.

Just installed my third Watts regulating valve in 27 years here. If you are on well water, it will eat them regularly. The one I took out had a big ball of who knows what right before the screen. Looked like a black .60 caliber musket ball.

briankk wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 01, 2019 10:12 pm

I'm currently running my boiler with the water shut off because the auto fill seems to cause it to blow up to 30 lbs if I leave it on.

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you found the problem. If you run into a problem where your boiler pressure creeps up, the first thing to try is shut off the fill valve. If the creeping stops, replace the auto fill valve.

-Don

briankk wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 01, 2019 10:12 pm

I'm currently running my boiler with the water shut off because the auto fill seems to cause it to blow up to 30 lbs if I leave it on. We do have high water pressure, not sure if that is the cause. Anyway, at a temp of 180 the pressure sits at at 10 lbs while the furnace is "idling" (no coal or air push). It seems to be working fine. I did have a small leak last yr but upon the advice of others here put in the "non foaming silicon" and it seems to have worked.

Am I being careless/foolish? The radiators don't leak, from what I can tell ... though these are the old cast iron radiators (approx 20). I'm also assuming, since the stop leak is still in the system, that any leaks that did manifest would seal when the silicon hits the air.

Sure could use your help fellas.

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My "NEW" keystoker domestic hot water coil went to crap after three years of use and I only found out it was the coil by the process of elimination; (1)ball valves, (2) back flow preventer (3) coil. The coil was the culprit after eliminating the ball valves and back flow preventer as the Steel Compression Tank flooded each time and after closing off the feed water for the coil and draining the steel compression tank down the third time the coil was found to be the PIA(*&^)(*&^%^&*().

I do not have the autofill as it is not needed when using the steel compression tank.

If you have a direct water contact/immersion low water cut off with the conductive method of water sensing you can turn off the autofill.

My B+G RB-122-E Low Water Cut Off is the first electric control for the boiler. By having the LWCO installed as the first electronic control that reaches the boiler the LWCO will shut the boiler down completely if it senses a water loss.

I learned the hard way that digital controls are not the answer for water level sensing and replaced everything with Honeywell and B+G mechanical boiler controls.

Sounds like you must have some pretty low pH in your domestic water?

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Sat. Nov. 02, 2019 8:26 am

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you found the problem. If you run into a problem where your boiler pressure creeps up, the first thing to try is shut off the fill valve. If the creeping stops, replace the auto fill valve.

-Don

I think you're right. I wanna use it without the autofill if I can. It seems those valve/gates are just not reliable. Thank ya kindly

The auto fill has a purpose...
Remove and replace if it has failed...

If you have a lot water cutoff installed and the system is leak free there should no issue valving off the makeup water.

It's actually a PRV, not an auto fill. You really should have it.

A picture or two would help us to help us help you to be sure you do not run into anymore problems.