Steam riser tees - how close is too close ? ( Ron Jr. )

bill_97

and I was back there a few days ago to check on banging pipes and spitting vents . A good 3 hour purge of the returns and 30 gallon skimming and it's running silently .

While checking the system I notcied this main and 4 closely spaced tees . I'm assuming the tees being this close isn't optimal . What's the minimum distance between tees on a steam main ?

Steamhead (in transit)

Shouldn't be a problem

especially since they come out at 45° angles.

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Bruce M

Steam Risers

I think I would have the header a size or two larger than the riser. As a general rule the system pipes should not be between the risers and not at either end of the header.

Boilerpro_5

I'd suspect that......

the minimum spacing recomendations for take offs on headers would apply here as well, especially if this is one pipe steam. At each takeoff the water on the bottom of the pipe is being pulled up by the velocity of the exiting steam. If enough space is left between the take offs the water can fall back down to the bottom and not tend to get sucked into the subsequent take off. I have seen addressed somewhere and this is sort of addressed is in Slantfins Caravan steam boiler literature. It looks like they want 3 times the header diameter between the final boiler steam riser and the first system supply and 2 times the header diamter between the last system supply and the equalizer down turn.

I'm sure you know that air vent is in a bad spot. I have fabricated a hammer arrestor, of sorts, in which I take the vertical vent pipe and increase it to at least 1 inch at a tee and then put the air vent off the side of the tee on 1/2 inch piping.

Boilerpro

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bill_97

That was my concern

With the tees so close I would think that condensate might get carried up into a riser pipe . And the bull head tee on the end being so close to the other tees doesn't help either .

Yeah , that air vent isn't in a good spot . If we have to go back I'll suggest moving it with a few ells and nips .

Thanks for the advice guys .