opinion on piping

Steam_newbie

I don't know a lot about steam system design, but the piping out of the boiler that leads to the rest of the system looks odd to me. I would appreciate the opinion of others that know a lot more. 

Steamhead

Well, that looks like a MegaSteam

and the installer bought the piping kit for it.



But the steam takeoffs should not come off the side of the header. That can allow water to enter the steam mains. The preferred location is from the top, but a 45° angle is acceptable.



Also, one 2" takeoff should not be used to serve two 2" mains. Either use two takeoffs or a single 2-1/2" takeoff.



I would have made the header 2-1/2" as well, even though Burnham doesn't mandate it. The larger pipe size slows the velocity and dries the steam better. And I would have made it a drop header, to make it easier to install and better allow for expansion.



Here's a pic of one of our MegaSteam installs.

JStar

Also

The hartford loop return piping is too long on the horizontal. It should come out of the Wye fitting with a 45 to the floor. The way it's piped, why bother having the Wye at all? Probably won't affect system function, but might create water hammer.

Steam_newbie

Thanks for taking a look

a couple additional questions...



One of my concerns was the design of the piping coming out of the unit, piped away from the connection point to the rest of the piping, then making a u-turn to run back to the connection point. It seemed like an inefficient way for the steam to have to  travel to get up to the radiators. Do you see this as a significant concern?



Also, how significant a concern are the other points that were raised?

Magnehelic

well........how does it perform?

any banging?  hammering?  how long before steam hits the rads from a cold start?

Charlie from wmass

The u turn is not the issue here

The few extra feet of pipe will not make or break this. The issues Steamhead and Jstar mentioned are far more important.

Rod

Piping

Hi-  The idea of the header piping is to separate water from the steam. When steam rushes out of the boiler, it carries with it a lot of water which means the steam is "Wet" . "Dry Steam" is much more efficient so anything we can do to dry the steam out is beneficial.

 What Steamhead is mentioning about the piping entering the top of the header pipe (or even at t45 degree angle ), is that this helps separate the water out as being positioned on top it is more likely to reject and less likely to collect, water.  You want to get as much water as you can out of the steam before it enters the steam mains. This is why the riser and header piping is so important.

- Rod