Best Of

If it only vibrates when the thing spins, you're looking at the washing machine.

Yes, I can tell you don't like indirect HW on steam! That's okay!

Thank you for tolerating my plumbing ignorance. Okay, now that you explain what the aquastat is doing, that seems pretty obvious that it would still be letting water hotter than the set point pass through. I didn't think it could somehow cool the water down like perhaps a mixing valve? But I did mistakenly think it would override the water heaters call for heat if the incoming water was measured to be too hot. But it makes more sense that it wouldn't do that, because in the winter the boiler water must always be very hot.

i hate to side step this discussion but i guess i 've been doing it wrong from now on im convinced im piping with under sized headers w no equalizer and no insulation . Of course i will be done in 1/2 the time and make more money then doing it the way i used to 'i ll save a ton in material and put double in my pocket, maybe i have been doing it wrong all along and everybody else is correct being there busy and get paid and move one . Or possibly there is no possible need and i have worn my purpose on this plane of existence which is surely the most logical case as i applies to myself .

At some point we are all useless

peace and goodluck

@Long Beach Ed

A better way to say this is that condensate-laden wet steam delivered into a radiator holds less latent BTU's than saturated (dry) steam delivered into a radiator.

This is a very important point. I am convinced that the output of the radiators is proportional to the percentage of water carried in the steam. I certainly don't have the ratio but I do believe it is more than a small amount.

Why?

Consider the fact that NOBODY on the forum who has selected a boiler accurately without oversize and piped it generously with a large drop header develops any pressure.

How could that possibly be? They all have 15-25% pickup factors. Surely the boiler will eventually shutdown on pressure during a recovery of 10 degrees!

BUT THEY DON'T.

The capability of the radiation is dependent on the water content of the steam!

A steam boiler must run longer with "wet" steam to satisfy the 'stat. The extra energy ends up as condensate.

Okay, Paul, then why bother with a header ?

I agree with everything you said, Ed and of course I try to practice it.

But out of curiosity, lets say your boiler isn't piped great, and lets even say there is some wet steam.

Where are those lost BTUs going?

As to grammar :

“More better” is a grammatically incorrect phrase that means “more more good.” Those who use it intend to communicate that something is “better than better,” but use the wrong word to express this. 

Just a grammatical observation I was corrected on in grade school, even though it sounded correct. By the way, even spell check will remove the word "more" in conjunction with "better"

Regards,

RTW

I am a stickler for proper Grammer and Splleing

to be clear with the proper Congiucjtion of good there are exactly 6 different stages:

Good, Gooder, Better, Betterer, Best, Bestest.

the superlitive for each is:

More Gooder, More Better, and Most Bestest.

So to use "more better" is not indicating the "most bestest" condition that can be achieved. However it is just slightly below Most Bestest and slightly above More Best in the heirarchy of the combination of the "More/Good" to "Most/Bestest" availabel combinations. To find out more on proper grammer and bestest splleing practises click on this link

Hi, I like what @clammy sez about "building envelope upgrades". Do that first, then play with the heating system. With good upgrades, maybe a couple of 150 watt light bulbs will do it 😄

Yours, Larry

The pump location is important. As low as possible. And the pump inlet as close to the boiler as possible.