To F & T or not to F & T

Kyle Hanlon

Any thoughts on this one..
Existing installation.
Cast Iron steam boiler, 2-2" mains piped parallel flow with 2-11/4" return lines above the water line for most of the 60' return trip. Condensate lines return to a boiler feed tank and the problem is steam coming from the boiler feed tank vent. It seems like a straight foward solution...just add 2 F & T traps at the end of the mains. The only problems is, halfway back up one of the condensate lines the line makes an inverted u to go up over a doorway to cross the center hall. This is a municipal building with finished offices the length of the building on both outside walls. Will the trap on this line push the condensate up 16"? Should the trap be in the condensate line before the inverted u? 2 PSI for cut out?
Leave the existing air vent on the top of the u? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Steamhead (in transit)

That inverted U

is going to be a problem. You'll have to pipe a right-side-up U underneath the door to get the condensate past the door without backing up. I think the diagram is in "The Lost Art of Steam Heating" someplace.

If this is a one-pipe system and the feed pump won't get ripped out (which it should be 95% of the time) you'll need F&T traps at the ends of the mains, before they turn into dry returns.

If it's 2-pipe with traps or Vapor devices, and the pump doesn't get ripped out, you'll need to trap the steam mains as described above but NOT the dry returns.

If you can restore that system to good, old-fashioned, simple gravity return, you won't need to worry about pumps or traps.

"Steamhead"

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Mad Dog_2

Of course steamhead is right on.................................

Me thinks you need a steam pro in there to scope it out. Mad Dog

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