Water Feed for Steam Boiler

j1111111

I own a 100 year-old home with a one-pipe steam heating system and I have a gas Weil Mclain boiler.  The original water pipes are all galvanized steel and I am planning on replacing them with copper.  Is it OK to use copper piping as my cold water feed, into the boiler, as long as I have a dialectic union where the copper meets the steel pipe?  Or is there risk risk of copper leaching into the water and then into my cast iron boiler?  If there is, can I use copper piping past the boiler or do I need to replace my old piping with new galvanized steel?

Thanks,

Josh 

nicholas bonham-carter

electrolysis?

generally a brass or bronze fitting will be safe enough to make a connection from copper to the black iron pipe used on most boilers. dialectric unions have fallen out of favor as the gasket is leak-prone.

if you have a choice, make the connection into the return, as far away from the boiler as you can, so the cold feed water has more warm return water to mix with, before it enters the boiler. put a spring-loaded shower valve on the pipe so yuou must pull the chain constantly while filling the boiler.-nbc