two steam boiler piping

gerry gill

but with two different sized gas boilers..we used a common gravity return header with a single hartford loop that protects the boilers (plural) from a break in the house return pipes..the steam risers on the off boiler are open at all times..so if you use king valves they need to stay open..the on boiler doesn't back water out into the off boiler this way..the off boiler just becomes a ''reservoir tank'' or an ''a'' dimension, however you want to look at it..the whole trick is to have the normal water lines at equal height..and if the water is dirty the off boiler will bounce its water around (because the ''on'' boiler is really providing the bounce)..when its really clean, it will be steady as a rock when its off and the other boilers firing..

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=360&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

Bob Bardoorian

adding new steam boiler to existing

I am seriously contemplating adding an A-A coal fired steam boiler to our slant-fin oil fired unit for economic reasons.
I know I need to redo the header and drops with isolation valves, and the hartford loops as well. because each boiler has a different normal water level, the coal boiler being higher by 6", how do I handle the returns? Tee off and valves to each? I thought about raising the slant-fin so that its water level would be the same as the new A-A, without valves, but have no first hand knowledge-
Anyone run into this? Thanks, Bob

Unknown

How do you intend to control the steam pressure?

Is this a one pipe steam system? Does the condensate return directly to the boiler(s), without a tank?

I bet you can do it...

Noel

Bob Bardoorian

Hi Noel!
It's a two pipe system and currntly the wet and dry returns are run into the slant-fin via the Hartford loop. The system runs well, although I believe it is slightly underfired. The boiler is a 146,000 BTU unit. The A-A coal boiler(conservatively rated @ 130,000 BTU is fully automatic and has its own controls. I simply want to be able to use whichever boiler is less costly at the time. The house is circa 1925, 4200 sqft on 4 levels, and steam is a good fit.