drop headers

Mad Dog_2

even if its once a week. Not much PLAY time lately although The Wall is ALL about learnin' new sh*$#@#@$%$#. Mad Dog

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[Deleted User]

For all of you steam gurus out there I have a question. What is the advantage/disadvantage of a drop header and when and why would I want to use one. All your help is greatly appreciated.

Unknown

Mike

"wet steam" does not do much except cause water hammer. The best results are accomplished by "drying" the steam at the header(increasing the steams "travel" distance at the boiler), usually tough to do in a low basement, so a "drop header" can give you the best of both worlds.

Dave

bob young

drop

as Dave pointed out ---extra dry steam is key result & it makes piping a proper header a snap---especially if you are tight for head room. once you do a drop header you will never probably ever do it otherwise. good luck

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the input I think I will give it a try. I have a 5 section gas peerless going in that does have very low head room so this sounds like it will work.

Unknown

Mike,

just READ, READ then RE-READ the instruction manual, many mistakes are made by not reading!!
Look in the library on this site to see some GREAT drop-header photos.
Good Luck!

Dave

Mad Dog_2

Ok

1) Drier, slower, quieter steam (good thing)
2) Easier to connect all the "dots"
3) looks intimidating and cool to those who DON'T REALLy know The Steam. Mad Dog

P.S. In alot of cases, it can be overkill, but I - for one - often cannot help myself. They are fun to build.

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Lyle C

drop headers

I've found when an indirect water heater on a conventional header system. When firing the boiler for the the indirect you can feel the heat in the main sometimes 10-15 feet away meaning wasted heat . Using a dropped header the main dosen't heat at all.

Steamhead (in transit)

Interesting!

think that might be air convecting, or low-temp vapor?

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jim_94

questions

I have a couple of questions about drop headers.
1. Can you use them on two pipe steam? Wondering because I recently quoted one.
2. How come you don't bullhead the header into the equalizer drop and riser? We have done a couple of drops and done the way I've seen here. In the past we've always come up 24" into a 90, small nipple, into a bullheaded tee for the riser and equalizer drop. We never had problems with wet steam that I know of. My thinking is that if it worked without a drop, wouldn't it work with a drop header and help push all the steam into the system?
Thanks, Jim

Unknown

Jim, good questions

#1- Yes!
#2-Ya, I guess it could work that way, but the steam STILL will not be as dry as it could be. Great thought though!

Dave

Mad Dog_2

Me thinks a two-pipe system calls for a drop header

Vapor systems require low velocity, DRY Steam. We almost always use a drop-header on them. Mad Dog

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bob young

Jim

The bullhead tee would put both riser & equalizer vertical piping completely out of plumb especially if you had exagerated pitch on the header. i would rather go for the additional fitting than trying to straighten out two cock-eyed key connections. i like my piping pleasing to the eye & funcional. if it was water or gas piping i would agree with you 100% . steam like drainage is a different story.

Unknown

Me too Matt,

I figured you were "around"!

Dave

Unknown

Bob

How could it be "cocked" if he`s a "relatively" good fitter? Even welded connections require the usual 90° make-up.

Dave

jim_94

thanks for the responses

For the project I'm thinking of plumb wouldn't be an issue because it will perfectly plumb ( or very close) due to the design of the current system and location of the main. Why would the steam be drier if I didn't use a bullhead? Does the bullhead in this situation cause condensate to be pulled into the system as opposed to dropping it in the old way we piped? I would think it would help out even more since we were already drying out the steam with the drop header.

Also manufacturer's specs say to use one tapping, but if we use both tappings wouldn't that help slow down the velocity of the steam leaving the boiler? It's a W/M eg 65. Either way we're using a drop header, but we're still learning about them and in the process changing the way we are used to piping steam, so we want to make sure we're doing it properly.

Like I said above, we never had any problems with the old way but the drop header makes sense, seems to be a better way to dry out the steam and allow the system to perform better. Similar to the way circs on the return work but pumping away works better.

Lyle C

drop header

I'm fairly sure low temp vapor just because of the speed it moved at.

Boilerpro_5

Bull headed tee

If you think about the water separated from the steam running at breakneck speed across that header and then crashing into the Bull headed tee, what's it going to do.....Its going to go down and up! You want it to only go down. Then you need to make the system risertall enough and big enough above the Bull head to drop the steam velocity real low so the water can fall back against the rising steam. At this point your head will begin to spin....just stay away from the bull headed tees.

Boilerpro

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