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Pumping away and towards at same time?

STEAM DOCTOR
STEAM DOCTOR Member Posts: 2,211
in THE MAIN WALL
Good evening. Just a little intro. I am a self trained plumber who knew absolutely nothing about heating until I was fortunate enough to stumble across this wonderful sight. In the few years since, I have read and studied  almost all of Dan's books and I visit this site on a very regular basis. I have thankfully advanced to the stage that I rarely encounter a steam issue that I can not resolve. THANKS DAN! That being said I have very little experience with hot water heating. 99% of my customers have steam heat. I have read Dan's books on hot water heating and I think that  I have a decent grasp of the concepts As we all know, book knowledge is very different from real world, hands on knowledge. Therefore please understand why some of my hot water heating question are some what elementary. I was on a non heating related job today and at end of job customer asked to take a look  at heating system as they were having some issues. One thing that I noticed is what seemed to be a interesting set up . There are 4 zones with zone valves. The circulator is on the return(surprise surprise).  There is a short nipple, a downward facing elbow a few inches of vertical pipe and on the bottom of the vertical pipe is the expansion tank(diaphragm) So far your normal incorrect setup. The interesting part was that there is a tee on the vertical pipe leading to the tank. There is a pipe that goes from that tee to the suction side of the circulator. It seems to me that the circultor is pumping away(using that tee) and pumping toward the tank(through the boiler) at the same time. Please let me know if I am correct or incorrect. Also please let me know if this piping arrangement could potentially cause any heating issues. The customer did say that there previous circulator needed to be replaced after 3 years. Thanks.

Comments

  • Brad White
    Brad White Member Posts: 2,399
    Can you post a photo?

    I was trying to visualize the set up from what you were writing and am not clear on which tee was which in respect to the circulator.



    As a leap, I was thinking that there may be a bypass around the circulator but that is just conjecture.

    A photo would really help!
    "If you do not know the answer, say, "I do not know the answer", and you will be correct!"



    -Ernie White, my Dad
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