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Oversized steamer & wrong piping questions (GrandPAH)

The piping screamed out BOO as I rounded the corner! A 399,000 BTU commercial boiler in a residence with both of its side-outlets not only reduced in size, but run horizontally to the rear - at a slight downward pitch - before turning vertical. What Dimension A?!?

She'd cracked & the original installers returned to repeat the offense by inserting new sections for more abuse.

There's a host of other sins like the pressure setting and conjoined flues without any increase in flue pipe sizing on the exhaust road to the chimney and steam leaks and gas leaks etc......

My connected load survey revealed that even with a fat pick up factor, the beast is oversized by about 100K BTUs.

Aside from repiping the oversized boiler and possibly derating it (Utica will need to tell me how low we can go without doing damage), I also recommended they might want to consider installing a properly sized boiler.

The homeowners are a bit shell-shocked at the projected costs - for repiping/repairs or new boiler. Can't say as I blame them as the existing boiler isn't very old. I clocked the meter & she's slightly underfiring. My gut feeling is the piping contributed greatly to the premature sections failure.

Here's the million dollar question: how much of a decrease in fuel consumption can be predicted by removing an oversized steam boiler and installing one that matches the connected load + pick up factor??? Dropping from a 399K short-cycling improperly piped boiler to a 299K properly piped boiler.

And, this is just one of many we're currently working to rescue from those who aren't able to open the manufacturer's installation lit & follow a simple line drawing! Just finished one in a hotel that was killed by lousy piping & that one was just a baby in boiler years (4).

Paging Dr. Brad White..........



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