Best Of

It is my gut opinion that I will be fortunate if I can get the company to even correct the flow direction. The boiler was installed in November sans water heater, despite the fact it was on the contract. The guys installing it have been pleasant to deal with, but management back at the office has not been great when it comes to communication and scheduling. I had to go with a big company, instead of an independent contractor so I could get financing for the install. I've spent the past 2 months essentially hounding them to come out and do the water heater, and have avoided paying the bill- so at this point I do believe it would be easier to add a bypass myself if that is what it needs. But is there any possibility my issues may disappear if they correct the direction the flow is going in? I like the idea of throttling the flow with a globe valve.

I actually have a heat pump hot water heater as well. I installed it when the boiler died 4 year ago. This indirect water heater is only serving one bathroom (primarily my wife's 50 gallon bathtub), but I have a valve I could move to have it serve the whole house if needed. I get frequent power outrages and do not like trying to operate the electric hot water heater with a portable generator, which is the main reason I wanted to retain a hot water option that was fed off the boiler.

The problem is the only way for that water to stay water is if it stays cool enough.

Unless the pipe can dissipate whatever amount of heat you're putting into it, the water is either going to turn into steam or not absorb much steam.

I had a run out that would hammer and the radiator on it wouldn't heat. My only guess is it wasn't pulling that much steam into it. This all goes back to the magic rule which @Jamie Hall will agree with, energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Aside from that, I don't know.

All the other photographs look like Main Vents that let the air out of the main pipes so that the steam can get into the mains. This picture is not one of those.

This is an exhaust vent with an automatic vent damper that will shut when the burners are not operating. that way the chimney draft will not pull so much heat from inside the boiler when the burners are not operating. That vent has nothing to do with getting air out of the piping system so that the steam can get into the radiators faster.

As far as getting the proper air vents for your steam mains, there are others that can help you better than I. I like to call on @ethicalpaul for this type of question. You may also want to purchase this book https://heatinghelp.com/store/detail/we-got-steam-heat-a-homeowners-guide-to-peaceful-coexistence/ from the store in this site.

EDIT: looks like Paul beat me to the "Save Comment" button.

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.