Steam boiler: main vents and automatic water feeders...

lowwater

Thanks

I want to thank all the help and advise.



Anyone who is offering services, please PM me and I'll get back to you. Much appreciated.



Mark

lowwater

Update

So... A quick update. I hired a heating plumber affiliated with the plumber and they put the vents in place - see photos. They really handled this professionally. Thoughts?

Craigs

Copper.....

8o



All I wanted to say..

JohnNY

Well, those are vents alright.

This thread just keeps getting worse.

Lowwater, if it's in your budget, find a heating contractor that advertises here and have your (dry) returns replaced with threaded steel pipe and fittings.

Your best bet by far is to have the system restored as closely as possible to its original design, or a design consistent with installation practices used by the original installers.

Perhaps Plumber C is that contractor. I don't know.

You've ruled out Plumber A, please do the same for Plumber B.



Here is a typical warning included in boiler manufacturer's literature explaining the risks of using copper in a steam heating system. I suspect all of that copper contributed to the need to add chemicals to your boiler water.

lowwater

John

John,



Thanks for the reply. I had 3 heating contractors over to give me estimates, and all 3 of them are on this site! All 3 of them were knowledgeable, friendly and professional and I decided to go with the one who gave me the most affordable (although still expensive!) quote.



None of them commented on the piping material; they just recommended changing the return from a dry into a wet return.

JohnNY

Yeah

I was afraid you might say that.

Danny Scully

I am plumber "C"

I am plumber "C" and recommended lowering the return lines to be wet, as they are currently too low above the boiler water line to properly be dry returns. Copper wet returns are acceptable and commonly practiced, which is why I didn't raise this issue as my customer is considering it as a future project. Due to budgetary constraints, however, we were only able to install new main vents, and skim the boiler at this time. I ran the system for quite a while (sweating) with no issues. Mains got hot evenly and quickly, no spitting vents, waterline hardly moved. Ill keep everyone posted.

lowwater

Thanks Danny

I did not wanted to call anyone out, but Danny did a great job.



And Danny is correct - ideally I should have done a few other changes, but I have spent thousands of dollars on plumbing in the past few months, and I simply can't afford to do more. Our plan is to see how the system works over the winter and see if we need to make any changes.

Danny Scully

I understand

I understand, and I didn't think you were calling me out. I planed on posting the pictures as well but you beat me to it; always like to give us wallies an update. Keep me informed when the heating season starts. As I said, our work comes with a guarantee.

Hap_Hazzard

Chemicals

Some people here use Steammaster tablets, and I clean mine with washing soda (aka soda ash). If there is a specific problem with your water supply, certain very specific treatment may be beneficial, but you should never use anything you don't need.



Almost anything you add to the boiler water will increase the boiling point of the water, and the greater the boiling point elevation the more violently it boils when it comes to a boil. This sends more water droplets into the system--wet steam--and that's very bad for a whole lot of reasons. Some chemicals may cause minerals to precipitate, accelerating scale formation. Some chemicals cause foaming and surging.



The purpose of using it would be to give you the impression that he was doing something when, in reality, he was out of ideas. Maybe I'm being unfair, but anybody who proposed pouring chemicals, other than H₂O, into my boiler, without doing a water analysis (of the boiler water and the tap water) first, would get the boot!