Indoor wood boiler pressure relief

[06switchback]

I have a 5 year old thermo control 2500 wood boiler with a 125 gal water jacket in my basement I have been very happy with it and have had little trouble with it

Twice in the last 3 days first Thursday and again today the pressure relief dumped a bunch of water on the floor I wasn't around it either time by the time I got to it the boiler Guage on the front was normal it is at about 22 psi now water temp set at 180 and the dump zone set at 195 I have never noticed it over 185 it had been warm out but today never got out of the 30s I don't know what is causing this to happen any help would be appreciated

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[Need2Saw]

do you have a pressure reducing valve that automatically keeps water pressure in the boiler? Check your expansion tank for bad diaphragm or air leak. Also, 22 psi normal system pressure seems high.

 

[NSMaple1]

Sounds like waterlogged expansion. Don't know your system though.

 

[06switchback]

There is a valve of some kind on the water supply of the original boiler system that I tied the wood boiler into I didn't think to check the expansion tank I had to replace the original one with a bigger one when I added the wood boiler

I don't know what the pressure was before this problem

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[Need2Saw]

there should be no need for your system pressure to be higher than 12 psi cold with the correct expansion tank, but every system runs differently. Your pressure shouldn't change much from cold to hot. With big pressure changes at different temperatures, usually the expansion tank is at fault. Isolate and check bladder pressure or air leaks.

 

[06switchback]

The pressure is coming down slowly it's down to 18 psi now not that I have any idea where it going

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[ChoppyChoppy]

Could be a weak pressure relief valve. They are normally set to open at 30psi. 22psi is pretty high though. I keep my boiler at 5-10psi. The pressure will vary depending on how high above the boiler the water is, my boiler is actually higher than my water lines (all in the floor, boiler is in teh garage) and I have a single story house.

My Dad used to change the one on his setup every 5ish years or so. They would seem to loose spring pressure a bit and open too low.

 

[sirbuildalot]

Is the circulator for the wood boiler working. It sounds like the heat isn't getting circulated.

 

[06switchback]

The pressure is down to about 13 now water temp is up to normal the circulators (3) are all working I called a plumber friend and he said it probably got a little hot and I let it go out last weekend do to lows in the 40s for 5 nights and it was only running one day Thursday so it brought in some water when it cooled and built pressure when it warmed up

But I don't think the pressure relief is up to par because the one on the oil boiler never blew anything both are set for 30 psi

Thanks to everyone for the quick response this place is great

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[Need2Saw]

when your fire goes out and the water temps lower, the expansion tank should relieve some of its capacity into the piping, When the fire is started and the water temp increases, the expansion tank should absorb the extra pressure and water. This is why the pressure should not change much from cold to hot and vise versa.

 

[bayard]

take a look at your aqua stat. my indoor boiler was acting strange for a few weeks last year. the aqua stat did go bad. it let the boiler over heat , the the pressure relief opened up while sleeping. the pressure must of been so high the valve stuck opened. and the cold water feed kept pumping cold water into the boiler, and out on to the floor for 4 hours. lots of fun!

 

[06switchback]

Well it was fine all night it's got me keeping a close eye on it tho

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[NSMaple1]

Keep a very close eye on it. Pressure can build over time if a tank gets waterlogged. It usually doesn't go down on its own like you're describing unless something is going on that shouldn't be - like a leak.