Saved SARCO Vapor System

Danny Scully

As a plumbing/heating contractor, it’s always satisfying to solve any problems a customer may be having. Solving this particular problem, however, gave me the greatest level of satisfaction I have ever felt.



The problem was a steam system that wouldn’t heat and hadn’t heated for many years, 12 at the very least! What we came to find was truly discomforting. Being obsessed with steam, it physically hurt me to look at this system. But nevertheless the problem(s) had to be fixed. Here is what we found: the distant remnants of a SARCO Vapor System. The alternating receiver, air eliminator, and check valves were all long gone. Making things worse, the system had NO vents, once wet returns that were now well above the water line, and cross over steam from the mains into the dry returns.

 

So here’s how we saved this SARCO Vapor System. The pictures show both dry return mains without vents, which we then cut in. You’ll then see the dry returns connect into the old wet return well above the waterline, which we repiped below the water line. Finally, the system ran at 9.5 lbs of pressure when we arrived, we installed a vaporstat and cranked it down to 1 ounce! The end result was one of the happiest customers we've ever had.