Steam boiler on the first floor

ChrisH

Just saw this building that has a steam boiler on the first floor. There is a serious hammering problem and the return pipes burst every couple of years. The return lines are buried in   the ground (the floor of the apartments ). It seems like the pitch is wrong. Is there anything that can be done to solve this problem? 

Jamie Hall

That just isn't normal...

Sounds like some interesting piping.  The near boiler piping should be as the manufacturer's directions show it.  No compromises.  So... you wind up with the steam mains near the ground floor ceiling, eh?  And the returns under the ground floor floor (ooh... don't like that).  So how are the radiators hooked into the steam mains?  If those ground floor radiators are below the mains -- and they almost have to be -- their runouts have to have a drip on down to the wet return, whether it's one or two pipe doesn't matter.  And they have to be above the boiler water line -- or the returns have to be pumped.



Hammering should be susceptible to the usual troubleshooting process -- if there's nowhere where water can hang up, the water can't hammer.  If there is, or if the near boiler piping is bad, it will.  So we need more info there.  But in the meantime, check all your pitches (that you can find!) and just make sure that the water can always drain back to the boiler some way or other.



Pressure should be the usual, too.



As to the return pipes bursting, why are they bursting?  Corrosion?  From the inside or the outside?  Something else?  Again, more info...