steam

joe amadio

Looked at customers system today who was complaining they used 3 times more in oil last year than the previous 2 years in house. System is oil fired steam. It is a 2 pipe system with steam traps on all radiator return lines.What i have never seen before though is a device about the size of a basketball called an "alternator" on the return side of the boiler. It looks as if all the radiator return piping originates from this device.The system also has a wet return that runs from the bottom of the boiler around the basement and ties into the end of the mains in traditional manner.On the over head radiator return main there are several locations that have tees cut in line then off the tee there is a steam trap. From the trap it is piped down into the wet return that is running along the floor.Also at the end of the 2 over head mains (supply and return) there is a trap and the 2 mains are piped together at this point. Now from a cold start this system ran for over an hour. It made steam in about 15 minutes but took almost 40 minutes for just a few radiators to get hot.In this time the supply main got hot but very slowly and the over head return realy never got hot. the low wet return was hot and so were the loops between the over head return and the low wet return. After letting the system for a while i shut the auto fill to see if the system was loosing steam via a leak because it had run for almost an hr and there was no pressure.It ran for another 1/2 hr and didnt lose any water from the site glass. So can anyone help with the diagnosis? why is so much oil being consumed? Is a bad trap to blame causing the steam to loop or bypass from the supply side to the return side?Is the alternator malfunctioning? what is the alternator and its function?

Steamhead (in transit)

That's a classic Vapor system

the "alternator" is a Return Trap which works like a pressure-powered pump, to return water to the boiler if its pressure gets too high. If it's a "Thermoflex Alternator" that means it was made by Grinnell.

Look for a central air vent somewhere in the basement. Often it doesn't look like a standard air vent, but if it stops working the entire system won't heat well.

Also see if any steam is getting into the dry (overhead) returns. It shouldn't be. Feel them- if they're steam-hot, find out which trap is leaking steam into the return line and repair it. Steam in the dry return interferes with the system's pressure differential, and if there's no difference in pressure (only a few ounces is needed) the steam won't move.

If everything looks OK, the boiler may be leaking above its waterline. Fill it up well past the sight glass- if water appears, you need a new boiler.

Those loops with traps on them may have served as returns for wall-mounted radiators in the basement. Do they have plugged-off tees in them?

Can you post some pics of this system?

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Matt Jensen

city steam heat problem

Is it easy to clean steam heat traps in the home