Acidic Water Problems

[Marcus Rinaldi]

My company recently replaced a Utica J-Series 800,000 BTU boiler, the previous only 5 years old. We came to find out that all of the other boilers installed in this particular building had the same problem. The final section in the unit was completely gone. Before installing the new unit, we checked out the incoming water supply. It seemed to be ok, but when we drained the old boiler down, we could smell a strong presence of acid in the steam lines. It turned out that once the water was heated and run through the galvanized piping, a chemical reaction would occur and a strong acid would form in the lines. Has anyone else come across a problem like this? The owner of the building doesn't want to have to cover the cost of repiping, but we can't think of any other way to solve this problem. We did have the idea of installing water filters or a water softener, but we're not really sure that it will help. Any ideas will help.

[jeff]

for answers on boiler ??? go to the web site www.heatinghelp.com then go to the wall section this site is great. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by jeff:
for answers on boiler ??? go to the web site www.heatinghelp.com then go to the wall section this site is great. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Marcus Rinaldi:
My company recently replaced a Utica J-Series 800,000 BTU boiler, the previous only 5 years old. We came to find out that all of the other boilers installed in this particular building had the same problem. The final section in the unit was completely gone. Before installing the new unit, we checked out the incoming water supply. It seemed to be ok, but when we drained the old boiler down, we could smell a strong presence of acid in the steam lines. It turned out that once the water was heated and run through the galvanized piping, a chemical reaction would occur and a strong acid would form in the lines. Has anyone else come across a problem like this? The owner of the building doesn't want to have to cover the cost of repiping, but we can't think of any other way to solve this problem. We did have the idea of installing water filters or a water softener, but we're not really sure that it will help. Any ideas will help.

boy i had a tough time trying to post reply....i would get one of those litmus type water testers and check the water ph . a lot of the water that i picked up along the way was the other way not an acid but more like a base in which case we would use simple white vinegar to nuetralize the water....but if in doubt sell him some new pipes or at least get rid of the galvanized parts of the system