Making move to vaporstat

Fizz

Will be adding vaporstat to boiler as I have Richardson vapor system.  Should pressurtrol be removed?  Also, what can I expect with change?

gerry gill

leave the pressuretrol and just

wire the vaporstat in series with it. As to what to expect, its hard to say. Hopefully quieter operation but if you were building up pressure before you could actually short cycle the burner unless you have some tweaking on the gas valve done..or add two stage firing..

nicholas bonham-carter

adding a vaporstat

i put mine on a manifold with a 0-15 ounce gauge, leaving the useless but required 0-30 psi gauge. make sure you mount it higher than the boiler, so that you will be able to do a skimming if needed [if mounted too low the elevated waterline will trip the vaporstat, and you will not be able to fire the boiler].

if your venting is not top notch, you will see an elevated back-pressure, and short-cycling, [ as the boiler begins to make steam pushing the air out].--nbc

Paul Fredricks_3

venting

Do you still have the original Richardson vent? If so it won't do enough venting for that system. We had a customer with a good sized Richardson, 4 zones. We calculated and added vents at the end of each main and return (the Richardson vent was already gone, but the existing vents were undersized). Helped the heat move about the system better and cut fuel costs about 10%.

If you do have the Richardson vent and want to get rid of it, you can definitely throw it my way. Love to have one for the shelf.

Fizz

Leave p'trol

Why leave p'trol?  Also, if short cycle, what kind of tweaking on gas valve?

Fizz

Leave p'trol

Why leave p'trol?  Also, if short cycle, what kind of tweaking on gas valve?

Fizz

venting

Wish i did, but the original was replaced by vacuum vent.  Actually, my main vent is now Gorton #2, with a #1 on one dry return, and a maid o mist on other.  Is this enough? 

BobC

backup safety

If you add the new vaporstat in series with the old pressuretrol the pressuretrol then becomes a backup safety. Lets say you set the vaporstat for a few ounces, it will cycle the boiler on and off if you exceed its pressure setting; the pressuretrol would only come into play if the vaporstat ever locked up. And that would save the boiler from destroying itself.



For maximum safety see if you can mount the new vaporstat on it's own pigtail above the waterline of the boiler, then a single plugged pigtail can't disable both safeties.



If your system regularly builds pressure towards the end of the heating cycle a two stage gas burner could prevent that from happening and save some fuel. With a two stage burner you would use the vaporstat to switch the gas burner down to it's low setting. the pressuretrol would then as as the safety.



Bob

Paul Fredricks_3

Depends

on how much supply and return piping you have, size and length.



I use this to figure out what I need. It's a great resource:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/products/Steam-Heating-Books/25/146/Balancing-Steam-Systems-Using-a-Vent-Capacity-Chart-by-Gerry-Gill-and-Steve-Pajek

Fizz

Depends

I have about 520 sf of radiation, and 120 of piping.  Thanks for the resource and advice.



Fizz

Fizz

Back-up

Good advice.  Thanks.



Fizz

nicholas bonham-carter

How much main venting

Just keep adding vents until the back-pressure is down to a couple of ounces.--NBC

Fizz

Brand of vaporstat

What brand of v-stat, and where did you get it?



Fizz

Rod

Vaporstat Models

Hi- Attached is sheet with info on Vaporstats and the 408J manual. Since you have a vapor system, you will probably want to use the 0-16 ounce model. If you don't have one already you will also want an additional  gauge that will read low pressures well.  Either one that reads in ounces or a 0-3 PSI gauge.   The 0-30 PSI gauge should be left in place as it is required by code.

- Rod

Fizz

My mistake

Actually have v-stat, i wanted brand of gauge and where purchased?  The v-stat i got is 1009 last 4 dig model.  thanks for info on v-stats though.

Rod

Gauges

Hi -    Sources for Gauges  



0 to 3 PSI    - The Gauge Store    http://www.gaugestore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=33020



0 to 15 Ounces  - The Gauge Store   http://www.gaugestore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=33010



For other size gauges  - The Gauge Store - http://www.gaugestore.com/products.asp?dept=1123



For a 0-30 PSI replacement gauge - Pex Supply - http://www.pexsupply.com/Burnham-100325-01-Steam-Pressure-Gauge-for-IN-INPV-Boilers



You may notice in the Wika Gauge literature that their gauges are only rated to 140 degrees so they will need to have pigtail to protect them from live steam. I’ve had the  0-3 PSI gauge on my one pipe system for three years now with no problems.

- Rod

Fizz

Gauges

Great info!



Thanks Rod.



Fizz