Sweating for our Money

Steamhead

It's been close to 100° in Baltimore this week, and of course we had a steam boiler to replace.



This was a small late-1960s or early 1970s Bryant in a 2-story rowhouse, with very narrow sections and the usual lousy near-boiler piping we always find on these units. It had rotted out above the waterline. We found all the radiator valve packing nuts loose- a now-familiar situation.

Steamhead

Had to pace ourselves due to the hot weather

We ended up installing a Weil-McLain atmospheric, but with proper near-boiler piping and new main vents, this system will run much better.



It got HOT in this house when we fired the boiler up to test it! When the Dead Men installed one of these systems in the summer, they had to keep the house hot for 8 hours to prove system operation. We have it a bit easier now.

Dave in QCA

A thing of Beauty

Steamhead, as always, your installations are a thing of beauty.  Thank you for posting!

Steamhead

Don't forget Gordo

wouldn't have happened without him.

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

A tip

you may already know.  The eg/egh boilers tend to develop cracks at the top of the legs due to legs flexing as the boilers expand and contract.  A few metal shims under the legs to allow the legs to move will probably improve the rather short life of these boilers.  Of course the little unit you've got there probably won't see much of this stress.

SWEI

I think you mean

A couple of thin sheet metal shims which permit horizontal movement of the feet?



Would this apply to all sectional boilers?



thanks...

Charlie from wmass

Looks MUCH better

I am sure they will be thrilled come January. It is nice to have the luxury of not needing to rush to get the heat back on once in a while.

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

All the ones with cast in legs on teh end sections

The models that sit on a combustion chamber box can move around a little easier.  This is probably why I see the cheap little Weil McLain CG boilers greatly outlast the EG units.  I haven't seen this problem with the Peerless 61, 62, 63, 64 series, though there are not as many out there.

SWEI

Thanks, Dave

Good to know.

Gordo

Thank You All For Your Comments

As with all of our installlations, a proper sightglass blowdown valve is added for testing and cleaning.

Also, the brass-coated steel sightglass gasket washers are replaced with proper brass washers.

The return piping into the boiler is a cast iron tee and the nipple is sch. 80/extra heavy to tolerate the corrosion in that area.

The "boiler drain" as supplied is scrapped and replaced with a full-port valve.

Dave in QCA

Another example

Dave, you bring up a very interesting point.  I noticed that Weil-McLain's images of their 80 series boilers all show that the sections are resting on a piece of angle iron, one piece under the toes on each side of the boiler.  However, we could find no requirement for this, or even a suggestion in the Installation Manual.  I went and bought some angle iron anyway and handed them to the installer.  They greatly appreciated the way that it made sliding the sections together much easier as they were assembling the block.  If it made that process easier one can only assume that it will benefit the section's ability to move as the block expands and contracts.

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

That's interesting

There seem to be some other things missing from their manuals....like the requirement for threaded fittings on the header.  It is shown in the diagrams, but never called out.

Gordo

I Think Very Few Boiler Manufacturers

Spell out IN WRITING threaded sch. 40 pipe for their steam boilers.

They are very coy about it, at the very least.  

 

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

Peerless makes it quite clear

but I know what you mean.   It's the race to the bottom installers.

jonny88

return piping

did you have to make any allowances for the height of t he return piping.

Gordo

Height of Return Piping

We didn't have to make any major allowances for the height the return piping.  It was coming in below the min. water level so we could keep it a wet return, slope it and drain it properly and have few issues returning through the Hartford loop.

Thank you for your question and happy steaming!

Gordo

Peerless

Makes a considerable effort to enlighten their installer customers as to proper boiler near boiler piping.  They have no reps or stocking distributors in Maryland, unfortunately.



Their excellent "The Color of Steam" books come to mind. 



Weil-McClain and their boiler-on-wheels piped in glass is another example which must be mentioned.



Burnham and their little (free) heating booklet does a reasonable job of getting info to their installers.



By contrast, Smith doesn't appear to give a hoot.

Gordo

Burnham

ON their V9 series boilers offers pre-cut channel steel riders (as an extra) for making installation easier.  And it's in their manual.

It most certainly does work.