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[tbone]

Helo all.....new to the forum.
Looking for some advice.  I have a heatmor which I have had for about six years now which I use during the heating season.  I fired it up early (about a month ago)...we had some early cold weather, which turned mild lately (last couple of weeks)  I always have issues with bleeding the air out of my lines...so I figured since I had it up and running that I would keep it lit.  I have been adding water twice a day to maintain my water level in the boiler....is this normal or do I have a problem.  Recently I turned my temperature down to 150 for my high......I have always had issues with maintaining my water level during milder-winter weather but not to this extreme.  I checked all my piping....and no leak could be found...I have about 100 ft between my boiler location and my house.  My worst fear is that I have an underground leak.....anyone else have issues during mild weather?  I forgot to mention, the pump that circulates water from my house to my stove is on a termastat and only circulates when calling for heat....

[PhinPhan]

If the pump is only circulating when the house needs heat, and with mild temps, the water might be boiling/steaming out.

[tbone]

Thanks for the reply...I'm hoping that's the reason.  Guess ill find out soon, colder weather is on the way.

[Steve f]

maybe presuure check your lines simple way of finding out whats going on, then you know if all is well with the lines its somthing with the furnace,

[RSI]

If it only happens when it is warmer out, I would check the door gasket. It sounds like you are boiling it over.

[willieG]

im gonna agree with phin phan on this one. if yoru stove is set for say 180 and you are not moving any water at all then after shutoff temp is reached there are likely enough volotile gasses left in teh firebox to continue to burn long enough to cause boile over or more water expansion that the sytem can handle and overflow. i think turning yoru water temp down to the 150 mark will cure your problem. if you have a leak in your system it would "most likely" show up in cold weather as well?

[Steve f]

Your right willie G , I miss read, that his pump was wired to his house thermostat, that would cause a problem when it was mild out,

[tbone]

Thanks for the info, you guys are right...I am losing water from steam or boil over.  We had a few days in a row with colder weather and I did not have any water lose.  Now its mild again, so I am back down to 150....and I try to turn my circulator on randomly throughout the day If I'm around (or have the wife). Seems to help some...going to look into adding a heat pump for next year to use during the milder temps.

[muffin]

Seem most run the pump continously.  You might consider changing your system to do this.  Just need to add some zone valves.

[tbone]

Update...

I have solved the problem so I figured I would update my thread.  My stove guy called me a few weeks ago and asked if I was interested in purchasing chemicals along with replacing my anode rod (which apparently heatmor now recommends the chemical treatment and has come to the conclusion that the anode rod does little good to prevent corrosion but that's another topic).  Anyhow I told him about my problem and that I did not want to purchase chemicals to have them boil or steam out of my stove.  He said that i most likely had a leak somewhere which may occur only during expansion and contraction of the water throughout the system....he stopped by and pressure tested and sure enough I had a leak (corroded gaskets). 

Been going over a week now without adding any water....and we have had temps close to 70 here last week....Going to wait a little longer to add chemicals...just to make sure.  Thanks to all.....for the info

[willieG]

i am glad you found that a small leak was your problem. i think most of us diagnosed your problem as water expansion due to the fact that in your first post you said "no leak had been found" i guess we all took for granted that you had inspected (and or tested) for leaks.

i am surprised that the leak that was found during a pressure test did not have a "wet spot" on the floor or the ground where the leak under pressure showed up.

happy burning

[tbone]

My bad Willie, my leak was in my crawlspace which I did check with the circulator running and did not see a leak as I was just checking the pipes with a flashlight.  I figured that if I had a leak it would be constant with the pump running....my own stupidity I guess.

[willieG]

i'm  (everyone) glad you were able to find the problem and get it fixed.