Boiler won't turn on by itself, expells water

[pottertw]

We have a hot water system with a natural gas furnace. My wife and I wedge an orange cap into our boiler mechanism every morning to turn on the heat. After about 20 minutes, the mechanism opens itself, we remove the cap, and the boiler will shut itself off after the house is warm. Our intial joy at having heat has given way to despair as we wake up every morning at 4am to turn on the furnace. We've done this for a year and a half.

Please see pics of the furnace at http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOWTVo5bNm7gI.

Also, the furnace releases water until it's at 8psi or lower. I keep refilling it to the 15-20psi range.

We've had technicians look at it, but haven't found a hot water heating system specialist in Denver, yet (or at least someone who can fix our problem).

Please help.

[Andrew]

Wow :eek:
That is an oldie for sure!
In fact, I'm not even sure what that device is that you have been sticking the cap into. Were it my boiler, I would seriously consider replacment with a modern energy efficient boiler. I say this because parts will probably be next to impossible to find for your boiler.
As far as your bolier releasing water, check that the expansion tank isn't waterlogged.
There are others here who will chime in with more information--Ken and the others really know their stuff so maybe someone can help more.

[pottertw]

Unfortunately, we believe that the wrapping around the boiler is asbestos, so it's a keeper for now.

I'm not sure where I'd find the expansion tank in this system. It's connected directly to a hose which fills in new water and it has a pipe that pours out old water. Any ideas?

Thanks!


Wow :eek:
That is an oldie for sure!
In fact, I'm not even sure what that device is that you have been sticking the cap into. Were it my boiler, I would seriously consider replacment with a modern energy efficient boiler. I say this because parts will probably be next to impossible to find for your boiler.
As far as your bolier releasing water, check that the expansion tank isn't waterlogged.
There are others here who will chime in with more information--Ken and the others really know their stuff so maybe someone can help more.