Hoffman Vapor System With Differential Loop

New England SteamWorks

Intrepid readers may well recall this unfortunate discovery of mine from last winter:



The poor couple had just purchased the home and the pictured boiler had gone in only 2 years prior. It got worse after I measured the radiation: two sizes too small....

What's a steam man to do?

New England SteamWorks

And why is that boiler in the middle of the room making it pretty much unusable?

New England SteamWorks

After much garment rendering the decision was made to replace the boiler with a correctly sized unit. We took the old one back to the shop and as luck would have it, a young couple big on dreams and short on cash came along and that boiler will be going to it's new home next week!

Meanwhile, we poured a slab back towards the chimney where the boiler properly belonged, carted the differential loop off to the sandblaster/painter, and set our sites on the two crossover traps.

My calculations indicated two Big Mouths for main venting, so I needed the equivalent in crossovers. No problem, as Peter at Barnes & Jones had announced in the spring he would be making Big Mouth crossovers. But when I went to buy them I couldn't find them. So I called Peter. That's when Peter told me the decision had been made not to produce the Big Mouth crossovers after all. The demand just wasn't going to be there. I was crushed. What now?

Two hours later my phone rings and it is Peter: "I heard the disappointment in your voice at not having the crossovers. So I went down to the shop and made two for you. Where can I send them?"

Imagine my joy! And what service! Behold, for your eyes only, and as far as I know, the only 2 Big Mouth crossover traps in existence:




Now all I had to do was figure out how to pipe it:

New England SteamWorks

Meanwhile, the concrete dried, the traps arrived, and the loop came back from the paint shop looking pretty spiffy, I must say:

KC_Jones

That paint job is a nice touch.

gerry gill

outstanding ! What is that drawing program? i love it. Glad the old boiler is finding a happy home.

Fred

Great @RI_SteamWorks . Can't wait to see the finished install.

New England SteamWorks

And finally, we got it all together:












Special shout-out to Frank @Steamhead for pointing me in the right direction.

New England SteamWorks

And the biggest shout-out to Ilka, who made sure we got her all wrapped up and ready for winter:

New England SteamWorks

Oh... I forgot. The Returns:

EzzyT

Gorgeous looking job as always @RI_SteamWorks and cute dog too

gerry gill

i like the hartford wye, very classy

New England SteamWorks

gerry gill said:

i like the hartford wye, very classy

You're classy! Google "Differential Loop" and the result is Gerry Gill!

Fred

Looks Great!

Danny Scully

You want this to add to the job?! I found it (disconnected) on an differential loop system. Amazing really.

DanHolohan

Wow.

New England SteamWorks

DanHolohan said:

Wow.

WOW = Words of Wisdom.

Somebody wrote The Lost Art Of Steam.

I merely consumed them.

KC_Jones

Anyone can consume them, not everyone can comprehend them. Don't sell yourself short, you are doing some amazing work.

New England SteamWorks

------blush------

nicholas bonham-carter

That installation is a real thing of beauty! It will be a central topic of conversation at parties there for years.
With a functioning vaporstat, and new crossover traps, is there really a need for the differential loop, and the additional big mouth main vents?--NBC

Paul S_3

Beautiful install @RI_SteamWorks ......

Jamie Hall

nicholas bonham-carter said:

That installation is a real thing of beauty! It will be a central topic of conversation at parties there for years.
With a functioning vaporstat, and new crossover traps, is there really a need for the differential loop, and the additional big mouth main vents?--NBC

You don't really need it, no. But it does no harm -- and in the odd event that the vapourstat gets reset, or doesn't open, it will preserve @Sailah 's Big Mouth crossover traps from excessive pressure differential!

New England SteamWorks

Technically, given the vaporstat, the loop is redundant. Having always been a bigger fan of yesterday than tomorrow, I was very much disinclined to alter such a well designed and preserved system. Where would the fun be in doing that?

Jamie Hall

RI_SteamWorks said:

Technically, given the vaporstat, the loop is redundant. Having always been a bigger fan of yesterday over tomorrow, I was very much disinclined to alter such a well designed and preserved system. Where would the fun be in doing that?

Amen, brother, amen!

Steamhead

Another Vapor system saved. Nice job!

Double D

Nice job. BTW I plan to be using those Big Mouth crossover traps this season too.

New England SteamWorks

Just to put a picture on a happy ending, here we see the old boiler smiling as the autumn sun sets, having found at last a family that appreciates her size and talents.

Tomorrow is her big day.

New England SteamWorks

Here, a little sausage making, because the topic comes up a lot. When the old nipple (or in this case bushing) won't turn out, it's time for a little elective sawzall surgery (not to be confused with brain salad surgery):








All good.

Paul S_3

nice love your work @RI_SteamWorks

New England SteamWorks

Have you ever been a day late and a nipple short?

New England SteamWorks

A good story all finished now, with a happy ending.

This last one was supposed to be a bargain/basic install, so no frills. But we got a little carried away with the piping. Some strange irresistible pull...

Koan

that is great looking work!

LionA29

Impressive work @RI_SteamWorks !!
Looks like a Stealth on the Tarmac.