Waking up from a steam dream

Brian_74

I have a two-pipe vapor system. Over the past couple of years, I've been working on stopping the hammering. With your help, I was able to stop some of it. I reached the point where I thought the last bit of hammering was due to uninsulated pipes in an addition. I cannot access the pipes to check slope or to add insulation. And then, I fired up the boiler a week ago for the first time this season. I couldn't believe it. It was as if one the pros here snuck into my house and fixed everything while I was gone. My system finally resembled the lovely descriptions Dan gives in his books. Unfortunately, gradually over the past week, the system returned to its noisy self.



The only thing I did differently was to give the boiler a really good pre-firing flush. It's supposed to be warm this week, so I am tempted to shut down the boiler and do another flush. Is it possible that the noise is just from crud?



My other hypothesis is that there are dips in pipes and over the summer they dried out and now they're full of water again. This seems more reasonable but harder to fix.



Any help is always appreciated.

Tim McElwain

I applaud your efforts

but I suggest you have a professional come in and look at your system.

Jamie Hall

As Tim says,

a pro. is always nice to have.  In the meantime, though, you might have something with the sags drying out -- although I would expect them to fill pretty quickly.  Easy enough to check for them and correct them, though, if there are any!

Brian_74

only knuckleheads around here

If there were a real professional, like the kind on the Wall, in my area, I would've called them years ago. Like most folks here, I'm about the most knowledgeable guy in the area (and that's not 'cause I know so much about steam).



The problem with the sag hypothesis is that I can't reach the pipes that are probably sagging. I can see them, but that's about it.



The reason I wasn't sure about the sag hypothesis is that if it were correct, shouldn't this pattern have occurred every fall? Since this is the only time it's happened, I figure there's go to be something new.

Tim McElwain

What is your location

maybe there is someone around that you do not know about that may be able to help you.

nicholas bonham-carter

dreaming of water-hammer

could this be mainly happening during the recovery from a deep setback? try lowering the pressure to ounces, and see if that would keep the level in the returns from rising into that problem area.--nbc