Question about Steam piping

Steamhead (in transit)

That's a new one on me! Just another excuse to avoid cutting and threading black pipe. At least that guy was a bit creative......

Copper pipe should NEVER be used where it can carry steam. The soldered joints don't allow any movement to take up expansion and contraction, so they can break and leak steam. Doesn't sound very efficient to me.

I think you should find another contractor.

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=367&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

Bernie Riddle_2

Question about Steam piping

I'm trying to move a radiator to the second floor of my house. We've been having trouble with a leak at an elbow in the basement. The boiler just blew and have to have a new one installed, and one of the contractors that came in said he was going to replace some of the pipe going to and out of the boiler with copper pipe instead of iron. I asked him if this was ok, and he said sure it's more energy efficient. Now, my question is... Can you replace iron pipe with copper in a one pipe steam system, and if so can you do it to the rads also?

Thanks

Brad White

Do not do it at all

Copper is only really good in a steam system on the returns. Even then it is a declaration that the installer cannot work well with steel (iron) pipe.

Schedule 40 steel is far and away the prefered material for steam piping as well as condensate (although the condensate is really best in heavier wall Schedule 80 steel).

Copper and steel expand and contract at different rates. Too often copper piping near the boiler is destroyed by expansion and contraction of the boiler. Tightly-held boiler sections can also be pried apart by rigidly held copper piping.

The statement that copper is more energy efficient is nonesense. If anything it is more conductive (subject to heat loss) but that is an academic point. I suspect your contractor can solder piping and this dictates his choice of material. (When one has only a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.)

Giving the benefit of the doubt, your contractor just may not know better. Have them hang around here if there is time but insist on using iron pipe for steam.

Bernie Riddle_2

Copper piping

Thanks Brad... I'm glad they couldn't get my boiler in until next Wednesday because when I found this out, I went with someone else that was cheaper first off, and he was the only one that went around measuring my radiators. The one that wanted to replace the pipes near the boiler with copper just kind of scared me with the comment of using copper because anywhere I have lived, has never had copper when it was a steam system. I love my steam system, and some people have tried to talk me into converting to HW but I refuse to. I do have another question. I had a "Pennco" boiler. Any idea of how old it might have been? I cannot find any info on it anywhere

gerry gill

copper shouldn't be used

in a steam system..not in the returns either..least in my opinion..the copper becomes the cathode..which now makes the iron the sacrificial anode..you can study up on this relationship in the library section of this site, under the heading ''anodes''..read about it and then decide if you really want to put copper in the system..

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"