I live in the Northeastern US, and I have a steam boiler (Burnham, model PV86-ST) that is used to heat the house. It is 6 years old.
The boiler has a leak above the water level (so it loses most of the steam via the flue...) and I'm told that it was due to corrosion. Because of the leak, I need to constantly add water to the boiler.
It was explained to me that it was due to the presence of Oxygen in the water. The more water we added to the boiler, the faster the corrosion process took place. I have also been told that the presence of chlorides in the local water system makes the problem even worse.
1st: are these explanations plausible? Are there other explanations?
2nd: doing some research, I found several suppliers of "oxygen scavenger chemicals for steam boilers". Is this something that I need to look into? If yes, how does one purchase this? by the pound? Are these chemicals safe? How does one "inject" this stuff inside the boiler?
3rd: Instead of chemicals, are there filters that would "condition" the water and make it less "corrosive" if there is such a thing?
I'm lost and confused...
Sincerely, Frank Lopes
The boiler has a leak above the water level (so it loses most of the steam via the flue...) and I'm told that it was due to corrosion. Because of the leak, I need to constantly add water to the boiler.
It was explained to me that it was due to the presence of Oxygen in the water. The more water we added to the boiler, the faster the corrosion process took place. I have also been told that the presence of chlorides in the local water system makes the problem even worse.
1st: are these explanations plausible? Are there other explanations?
2nd: doing some research, I found several suppliers of "oxygen scavenger chemicals for steam boilers". Is this something that I need to look into? If yes, how does one purchase this? by the pound? Are these chemicals safe? How does one "inject" this stuff inside the boiler?
3rd: Instead of chemicals, are there filters that would "condition" the water and make it less "corrosive" if there is such a thing?
I'm lost and confused...
Sincerely, Frank Lopes