Where to start

BigRed

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=405&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

BigRed

Thrift shop Two pipe

My customer owns this building and rents to a thrift shop. He asked me to look at it after the past two weeks of constant trouble. The story is that the boiler needed to be started by the local service a couple days in a row and the mantance man who let in me says he had to add water today to get it to start. The owner wishes to go with less expence to try to correct the system befor a new boiler and near boiler piping. I did find a leak in the 2" copper in the crawspace, whitch was one of the worst in been in lately with the hot main burning your leg.

I pulled the Utica I&O and clearly the near boiler pipping is wrong. The zone valve on the 1" take off works and any suggestions on how to improve it pipping would help. The other thing Im having trouble with is the venting and the dry return. The hoffman 1A is on a rad in the building with the boiler in it. The rad is connected to the two 3/4 risers above that trap in the dirt. The rad supply where the vent is is connected to the right riser. It appears that the 3/4 pipe on the left is the dry return from the other side. The 3/4 pipe on the right lines up with where the condensate dicharge is piped. The trap in the dirt is a Hoffman No17. On the clean side of the underground conduit the pipes come out and things look better here, again the zone valve. I dont know if the zone valve piping is correct. I also dont know what happens to the dry return deep in the crawspace I crawed to the leak but no futher yet.

The boiler room return is sad and that 3/4 entering from the right I assume is the pump dicharge. The 11/4 with the zone above the boiler feeds the building above. The 2" feeds the building on the clean side. I plan on fixing the leak and the No 51 witch was stuck and not feeding when I got there.
Let see I missed the pump shot but its below that zone valve. The 2" pipe that drops down is the inlet and the 11/4 m copper riser is the vent, the 3/4 riser that changes to copper is the dicharge. There is a unit heater right in the corner above the tunnel. The end of the mains looks OK and the rad piping too.

By the way the owner said that Abe Lincon's body was stored here in the building while en route to the cemetary I dont know this is true but it is intresting.
This is only my thrid steam job any help would be great
Is there a better way to control the two buildings with out the zone valves? What do you think? Any advice would be great!Thanks
Here are all the pics

BigRed

Help Please

Anyone?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

[Deleted User]

Plastic...( EDITED)

explosives at the base of the support columns and a general fire alarm comes to mind...

This system has obviously been ignored and patched in a crisis management mode for a LONG time.

My suggestion would be to hire one of the best as a consultant (Steamhead comes to mind) to do a system wide deficiency study, and put together a program for recovery.

That system has more problems than just the near boiler piping issues...

ME

Steamhead (in transit)

Looks like a long-suffering Webster Vapor system

Someone has butchered it, but it can be fixed. Where are you located?

P.S. Thanks, ME.

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

S Ebels

That system

Needs far more help than can possibly be giiven here. I would strongly suggest that you get in touch with Steamhead (AKA Frank Wilsey) and let him guide you through the process. He's one of the best steam guys you'll find anywhere on the planet. If this is only your third steam repair, it's in your best interest and that of the building owner to get him involved. His consultation fee will be worth every penny.

BigRed

Philadelphia

this is in the suburbs of Phily and Thank You

Steamhead (in transit)

Get in touch with the Pompettis

Jim and Jamie. Get their number on the Find a Professional page of this site. They're good with steam, and they have a consultant available in Baltimore if needed ;-)

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

BigRed

hey now

I am not looking to pass this job off, I want to learn from it. I've read "lost Art" many times and I feel as though I have a pretty good understanding of steam and the principals involved.

I plan on fixing the leak and replacing the feeder, first. Belive it or not the buildings were heating well when I was there, and I was there for about 3 hours investgating and there was no banging. Although the people who work thought it was "suppose to make that noise". And when I was walking out the door it started to bang.

I think the whole system is vented out the 1A in the rad above the trap in the dirt. The dry return that starts on the clean side comes out into the craw and tee's to the outlet of the rad with the vent, it also tees to the inlet of the trap in the dirt. The outlet of that trap is tied into the supply for that same rad. The supply is coming from a tee on the 2" copper. That being said I would think that the the system is venting out of that hoffman1A . Now get this I was called to this job not becuase of any other reason but that the Local plummer service man could not get the boiler to run and suggested and priced a new boiler. I normaly work on larger project for the owner and he called us to get our opinion. There local plummer service man has done done all the wok on the system including installing that rad with the 1A on it. My piont is that it heats the place. I found A leak on the 2" main and the feeder stuck not feeding. Thats why the boiler wont run. Of course the owner dose not want to spend alot of money for nothing. He wasn't convinced he need a new boiler at least not yet maybe this summer.

I dont know what happens to the dry return in dissapers into the craw along with the pump dicharge line, and in the boiler room there is just one 3/4 copper pipe comming out of the wall and teeing into the bottom tapping with the fresh water, and the pathetic hartford loop. any thoughts?

Cosmo_3

Utica? It looks like a Crown Series 32 gas. Very popular brand in the Philly area, factory is in the city.

Edit; Ok, it is a Utica, I just checked out the website. They both have similar draft hoods.

Cosmo Valavanis

Dependable P.H.C. Inc.