When your boiler is cast, and again when it is installed using threaded pipe, oils are introduced inside the boiler. Being lighter than water, these oils will eventually rise to the surface and float on top of the boiler water. Once the water begins to boil, these oils become big trouble. As the water begins to boil it forms bubbles, but the oils prevent the bubbles from bursting and result in what is referred to as foaming. Foaming is death to a steam heating system. It causes water to be thrown up with the steam into the system, killing efficiency, and it also doesn’t smell very nice when it exits your radiator vents! So we need to get those oils out of the boiler after installation. The boiler manufacturer installs a skim tapping for this purpose, on which the installer is supposed to install a skim port, which allows the oils to be skimmed away. You’d be amazed how many guys never complete this critical step. Naturally we do, and because you’ll be helping in the skimming process, we install a very user-friendly skim port (complete with an extra port for boiler additives should you be so inclined). That’s just the way we roll.