ft and bucket trap operation

heatman58

Can anyone explain to me how condensate is lifted when the condensate line is higher than the heat emitter. I have a unit heater that has the steam line entering at the top. the condensate comes off the bottom ,goes through the steam trap and then the goes up about 5 feet to the condensate line

jpf321

one big whoosh at a time ...

dan has a very good description of how inverted bucket traps "lift" water in LAOSH on page 162.



which brings me to another question .. which I have been toying with .. can you install a radiator beneath normal waterline in an otherwise 1-pipe system? sure I could run a HW loop from the boiler .. but I'm truly curious as to whether I can add a steam rad beneath WL using inverted bucket traps and such...



thanks

clammy

condensate lift

The reason the trap has the ablity to lift the condensate up is due to a pressure differental between the supply and the return and the left over steam pressure on the inlet side of the trap ,i cannot remenber the formula for how much pressure is required but i do believe  1 psi will raise or lift condensate 32 inches hope this helps i do not think this would work on a single pipe system ,maybe if there was a wet return but i believe you would be just asking for trouble i persoanlly have never seen it done on a single pipe gravity return but i ould be wrong anybody else have any thoughts peace and good luck clammy