Have the boiler started up and checked
Weil-McLain and Slant/Fin require a yearly start-up by a qualified technician.
Who: A job for an HVAC technician.
How often: Each fall, at the start of heating season. For: the boiler.
Safety first
- Nothing flammable near the boiler.
- No cold water into a hot boiler.
- Don’t drain the system unless it will freeze.
- Gas smell: leave, then call 911.
- Never run a boiler that has been sprayed or under water.
Your part
- Book the start-up at the beginning of heating season. A boiler that also makes the house’s hot water is never shut down; it runs all year.
- Every day or so, glance at the area and the gauge: nothing flammable stored near it, air openings clear. Hot-water boiler: Weil-McLain says never over 24 psig, and at least 12 psig when full; Slant/Fin says about 12-15 psi cold and 15-25 psi hot, with one right pressure for each temperature. The needle rises as it heats; your manual gives your number. Steam boiler: never over 15 psig.
- Monthly: look for leaks, water stains or rust at the piping, circulators, relief valve and fittings, and check that the vent and intake pipes are connected.
- Every 6 months, only if the relief valve’s discharge pipe runs somewhere safe: lift the lever slightly; water should flow; let go and it should seat. Watch the pipe end for a drip after it drains.
- Condensing boiler: with it running, hold your fingers at the condensate drain outlet. Flue gas there means a dry trap, which must stay full of water.
Normal
- Yellow-orange streaks in the flame, from dust.
- The gauge rising as the boiler heats.
Needs attention
- Yellow-tipped flames (sooting).
- The relief valve weeping or spilling.
- Having to add water all the time.
Call an HVAC technician if
- Any leak, at once.
- Pressure that stays high or low.
- A relief valve that still weeps after a second lift (often the expansion tank).
- No flow when the lever is lifted: shut the boiler down and call an HVAC technician.
- An outage or failure in cold weather: pipes can freeze in hours.
Keep track of it
Add your home to My homes: each piece of equipment gets this on its own schedule, with “Mark done” and reminders you can turn on.
Sources
Your owner’s manual comes first: where it says something different for your model, follow it.
Still stuck?
Email us at hello@tradewrench.com. Tell us which page you were on and what you were trying to do.