Ralph
No, you cannot consider anything fine. Even if you measure the boiler pressure, all that tells you it that the pressurestat is working and at what pressure it is set. The safety valve is, as the name implies, a SAFETY valve. It is there to relieve the pressure should the system fail. MAKE NO MISTAKE, PRESSURESTATS CAN AND DO FAIL! The safety would be set to a pressure higher than the designed working pressure, but still within the safe pressure limits of the mechanical system. This valve would be set to release at that higher pressure. The boiler pressure reading would tell you if the boiler were operating at the correct pressure. It would NOT tell you if the safety valve were set correctly. If the safety valve were leaking at the correct boiler pressure, it would indicate that there was a problem with the safety valve, but it would not tell you what the problem was. Changing the setting of the pressure valve now just leaves you noplace to go. You do not know if the valve is leaking because its seal has failed, the spring has fatigued, there is dirt in it, or the seat is damaged. If you took it apart, checked the seat, replaced the seal, and put the adjustment back as you found it, and it still leaked, you would know more. Since you lost the adjustment only really right way would be to actually MEASURE the safety valve operating point and set it properly. By compressing the spring, you can reach a point where the valve is locked shut and no amount of pressure will open it. Boilers are dangerous things-just because it is a little home appliance, does not make it safe for the untrained. Replacing the spring and the seal WILL NOT RECALIBRATE the valve. If you have to ask these questions, I would strongly suggest listening to Steve's suggestion about taking it to a trained professional who actually knows what they are doing. Make sure you tell them what you did to the safety valve. Even the best of service people cannot know that someone has been adjusting things that they should not.
