To pump or not to pump?

H

I'm helping out on a low pressure two pipe steam installation in a small microbrewery and keep going back and forth on whether a condensate pump is necessary.  The steam is being used to heat 3 jacketed tanks and the boiler in question is a Burnham IN8 (210kBtu output).



The boiler room is at the same level as the brew house, so some equipment will have to be raised a couple of feet anyway, even to get condensate to drain into a receiver.  So conceivably it could be raised a bit further to allow for gravity return.  Keeping the elevation to a minimum is desirable, though, so that it's still easy to work on the equipment.



So I have two questions:



1.  Is there a recommended minimum distance between the water line and lowest steam trap for reliable gravity return operation?

2.  If a condensate pump is used, does one still have to worry about the "B" dimension at all, or can the header then be at any height?  (Head room in the boiler room is a bit of an issue, so this may also decide the condensate pump question.)



Thank you for any help you can provide!  Steam pros seem to be very rare here in the west...

H

Just answered my own question...

Found some info that answered my question, the pump seems like the best solution.  I don't see how to delete my post, but thanks for looking anyway!