Hey all -

I have a pretty new furnace (about 3yo.) and just recently had to replace the thermocouple. While the heating guy was over, he let me know that I should be flushing the system weekly to drain off the sludge. He then drained the system of about 2 buckets of filthy water, and refilled it. The water source of the furnace is the water heater, so it comes in hot... I have three questions:

1. Is he correct that I should provide this maintenance weekly;

And

2. Since filling the boiler, there has been a steady drip from the pipe coming off the Backflow Preventer via the "vent" outlet - about a drip per second. The fella told me that I would need to replace that item if it keeps dripping. How bad is it to just catch the water?

3. If this can't be resolved by flushing - is this something I can do? I have ZERO experience with plumbing, but don't have a lot of money for this work (he quoted me a couple of hundred dollars to do the work)

Thanks for any advice.

Julie

Weekly is a bit excessive, can you find any documentation on the boiler you own, it will tell you what the maint' should be. Backflow preventers commonly drip out of the vent, doesn't hurt anything, but a drip on the floor, but I would probably go ahead with the repair. Most of the steam boilers I deal with are very large commercial types and they have learned over time how often they need to blow them down, some do weekly, and some monthly, a brewery we service does it each time they brew. I know this isn't a big help but mybe someone else has something to add.