Hi folks,
Got a problem with my steam jackets. Seems that the bottom jackets on both my Kettle and HLT don't function as well as they should. The HLT does not heat up as per usual, in fact the max temp that it can reach without "prompting" is 150F. When i hit the air locks on the side of the HLT, hot water comes jetting out followed by steam. If i depress the lock long enough, I can clear out the trapped water until nothing but steams comes out. Other times, I have steam in the jacket but it still does not hit temp. I have checked all the condensate traps, cleaned them out, blown out the jackets to ensure no debris is in there blocking the condensate traps and yet I still have situations where I can feel the heat going through the pipes into the jackets but not passing through the condensate trap on the other end. Funny thing is that when I knock the condensate trap about, it gets hot and i can feel steam/condensate passing through. Could it also be the condensate return pump not functioning properly? At times it seems not to be pulling the condensate out to return to the boiler but rather fills the reservoir and allows it to run through the overflow into the drain.
Mash tun and upper steam jacket on kettle seem to work fine. I have a tech coming in today to inspect the boiler and replace the float switch which they seem to think may be the cause of the problem.
Any thoughts?
I have a low pressure boiler and a Bohemian Mono Bloc II kit.
I should add that sometimes when just the HLT steam jacket is initialised, I have what seems to be condensate running backwards through the condensate traps into the bottom jacket of the kettle. I've looked for check valves it does not seem to have any to prevent this. Should there be? The only way I can prevent this is to shut off the main steam condensate trap valve and only allow the steam to travel to the jacket required and have that condensate trap do all the work.
Thanks
Got a problem with my steam jackets. Seems that the bottom jackets on both my Kettle and HLT don't function as well as they should. The HLT does not heat up as per usual, in fact the max temp that it can reach without "prompting" is 150F. When i hit the air locks on the side of the HLT, hot water comes jetting out followed by steam. If i depress the lock long enough, I can clear out the trapped water until nothing but steams comes out. Other times, I have steam in the jacket but it still does not hit temp. I have checked all the condensate traps, cleaned them out, blown out the jackets to ensure no debris is in there blocking the condensate traps and yet I still have situations where I can feel the heat going through the pipes into the jackets but not passing through the condensate trap on the other end. Funny thing is that when I knock the condensate trap about, it gets hot and i can feel steam/condensate passing through. Could it also be the condensate return pump not functioning properly? At times it seems not to be pulling the condensate out to return to the boiler but rather fills the reservoir and allows it to run through the overflow into the drain.
Mash tun and upper steam jacket on kettle seem to work fine. I have a tech coming in today to inspect the boiler and replace the float switch which they seem to think may be the cause of the problem.
Any thoughts?
I have a low pressure boiler and a Bohemian Mono Bloc II kit.
I should add that sometimes when just the HLT steam jacket is initialised, I have what seems to be condensate running backwards through the condensate traps into the bottom jacket of the kettle. I've looked for check valves it does not seem to have any to prevent this. Should there be? The only way I can prevent this is to shut off the main steam condensate trap valve and only allow the steam to travel to the jacket required and have that condensate trap do all the work.
Thanks
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