Halstead/wickes 102 boiler

nathinstotfold · Post by **nathinstotfold** » Sat Apr 08, 2023 11:46 am

Have had this boiler since 2008, all been fine apart from a few issues, it has now decided to start venting steam from the air release valve. Any ideas, is it overheating? I have a new pcb to go in and a temp sensor on order.

Thanks for any help

Nath

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 12:46 pm

Don't know why you have not had a reply but a CH boiler should never be able to reach a water temperature where vapor ( generally called steam) can be produced, there should be a flow temperature control thermistor and an overheat stat to prevent this.
I don't pretend to know this boiler model so as a guess despite being obvious are you sure the boiler is full of water and pressure normal?
Are you sure it is "Steam" and not hot water because the auto vent has failed?

Razor · Post by **Razor** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 1:10 pm

It's a blockage. That's all I'm going to say as I don't want anyone that right away buys a new PCB to be messing with their boiler.

Time to get someone in but I suspect you know it's probably BER

ericmark · Post by **ericmark** » Tue Apr 11, 2023 10:04 am

I must admit the USA name of furnace is likely better to our boiler, as in the main they don't boil, there are exceptions, the central heating on our local trains is from steam sent into the heat exchangers (radiators) in each carriage, and is a total loss system. The problem with boilers is they can explode, so need pressure testing and every 10 years they have a major overhaul, so really only want them on heritage railways.

But we tend to call things after what they replace, so electronic transformer, or tarmac even when a transformer or tar not used.

Most gas domestic water heaters today run cooler, as they extract the latent heat from the flue, even oil gets no where near boiling point, and often there is a user control to reduce the circulating water temperature. However to work on boilers one needs training, the fireman will typically take two years before he is passed out, and all he does is shovel coal.

In the main there are multi protection devices, if the fuse-able plug ever melts there is a big enquiry as to why, and likely some one will loose their ticket. Not happened while I have be working on the railway, but the point is for steam to be produced likely more than one fault, so this is a job for some one with the appropriate bit of paper, it is not a DIY job.