About 7 months in at the shop out of Bayonne. Boss says starting next week it's boiler cleanings and fall service every day until it gets cold, mostly old one-pipe steam in Bayonne and JC, some hot water. Ziggy told me to ask for one new thing a week so this is me asking ahead of time.
What actually happens on a fall service for an old steam boiler? What should I be watching so I'm not just the guy holding the light? brother I've seen maybe three steam boilers up close.
Fall service on steam is about making sure January is boring, kid.
Your lead will look at the water line in the gauge glass, check the low-water cutoff and flush it if it's the kind you flush, look at the pressure control and the pigtail under it, check the burner and the flue, and look for leaks on the near-boiler piping. You'll be holding the bucket and the light. Watch the order he does it in and ask why after, not during.
Vo-tech instructor, plumbing & HVAC · 28 years · Passaic County, NJ
Mentor
It's a real rule. Feeding cold water into a hot boiler that's run low can crack it, or worse. That's why we teach people to stop and find out why it's low before anything else. On a fall service your lead handles that, not the helper.
Vo-tech instructor, plumbing & HVAC · 28 years · Passaic County, NJ
Mentor
First, bring a notebook. Second, write down the make and model of every boiler and what the water looked like in the glass. Third, ask your lead what "normal" is for that one, because every old steam system has its own normal. Ask me how I know.
Apprentice plumber · 2 years · Somerset County, NJ
Two years in and I've done maybe four steam boilers around Manville. What surprised me was how much the homeowner knows about their own system. Ask them what it does when it's acting up.
Is it true you're never supposed to add water to a steam boiler while it's hot? My teacher said that once and I wasn't sure if it was a rule or a saying.
update: 6 cleanings this week with my lead. held a lot of buckets. he let me do the gauge glass on the last one while he watched. the pigtails were exactly as gross as Ziggy said