vacuum systems

BruceLundeen

I am a contractor in the Minneapolis area.  I have a fellow who claims he can get vacuum systems running as designed.

Of course, the system has to have some resemblance to when it was first installed, and the components have to work, but is getting vacuum systems to operate correctly a reasonable expectation?  At what frequency can one expect success?

I am not going to concern myself too much with cost right now, I would just like some thoughts.

He sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and hit on an important issue:  Ability to modulate the burner properly.

Thanks,

HP

Jamie Hall

It depends...

on how much knuckleheaded "repair" the system has had.  In general, though, it isn't really all that hard to get a system which was once a vacuum or vapour system running properly again.



I'd say that step one would be to acquire the book "The Lost Art of Steam Heat" -- available from this site -- and study it.



Step two, then, is to figure out what the system was supposed to be like -- sometimes it's obvious, sometimes less so.



Step three is to repair properly what was busted and replace what was repaired incorrectly or removed entirely.



Pay particular attention to traps (if there were any), vents and venting arrangements, and inlet valves to the radiators, which may have orifices or be specially adjusted.



None of it is all that hard (usually!) but it does take some fiddling and some patience.  There are, by the way, no magic bullets nor one size fits all solutions -- every single system is different.



Success rate?  I'd not care to put a number on, but I'd say "most of the time".