Water gauge bubbles, under steam
Peter Hawksford | 29/10/2014 02:36:48 |
6 forum posts | 3 1/2" ga Rob Roy Any suggestions why I get a lot of bubbles in the water gauge when steaming? Frequent blowing down the gauge only helps for a short time. Makes it difficult to know where water level is. |
OuBallie | 29/10/2014 09:37:10 |
![]() 1181 forum posts 669 photos | New boiler or old, and what water are you using?
Geoff - Workshop time |
Peter Hawksford | 29/10/2014 16:00:01 |
6 forum posts | Thanks for the reply. Boiler is quite old now this has been a problem from the beginning. Perhaps bubbles is not a good way to describe this. More like small air slugs that don't move. Our local water is very soft. It's always a concern not knowing the true water level. I've been wondering about adding a water column to see if that helps. Peter
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fizzy | 29/10/2014 16:22:36 |
![]() 1860 forum posts 121 photos | most likely to be due to small bore gauge and supply |
OuBallie | 31/10/2014 11:29:26 |
![]() 1181 forum posts 669 photos | Agree with fizzy. A photo and/or dimensions would help us Peter. Geoff - Roses still appearing, what a crazy autumn. |
julian atkins | 31/10/2014 11:54:05 |
![]() 1285 forum posts 353 photos | hi peter, the bubbles could be due to many things. however one of the commonest problems is the bush for the bottom fitting extending into the water space too far, or the bottom fitting itself doing the same beyond the inside of the bush. there isnt much you can do about the bush, but it is worthwhile checking the bottom fitting by taking it off. you can also check the passageways at the same time and rod them through. the passageways shouldnt be smaller than the bore of the glass and must be free of scale or debris. the threaded end of the bottom fitting should be a little shorter than the depth of the bottom bush, and definitely not longer than it. cheers, julian |
Boiler Bri | 31/10/2014 18:51:41 |
![]() 856 forum posts 212 photos |
I have replied to this thread already, however a little while after my reply it seems it 'disappeared'. Moving on, I believe that if the space between the outer wrapper and the fire box is too small I.e below 1/4" cavitation takes place and the water level fluctuates, it can fluctuate and show in the gauge glass, making the water level hard to judge.
Brian |
Peter Hawksford | 31/10/2014 19:39:02 |
6 forum posts | Thank you Julian and Brian for your feed back. I have checked the water gauge openings and length before, all ok. Good point about bush might be to long into 1/4" water space. Difficult to correct. |
Ron Hancock | 02/11/2014 20:00:38 |
![]() 526 forum posts 95 photos | I am no where near as experienced as other guys but i had a similar problem. A guy who is a scientist told me to use a clalgon tablet run it up to working pressure leave 15 mins wash out. It started working better in mine just a thought. Ron |
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