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On the hunt for the main valve

steamnewbie28
steamnewbie28 Member Posts: 6
in Strictly Steam
Hi guys - I'm a new owner of a steam system and dealing with some challenges this winter, including some very cold rooms (but luckily not a noisy system). Apparently the week after we signed our contract to buy the house, the boiler went kaput and had to be replaced. So it is a very new, Union Steam boiler. I've read Dan's book and am starting the process of making the system work better. Quick question -- there are three "bolts" on the pipes in our basement (and no valves). Two of the bolts are right at the boiler and point down. The other is at the end of a smaller pipe on the other side of the basement and points up. Should they all have valves on them (I would think the two that point down should not).Pics are below. Any advice welcome!

Comments

  • Double D
    Double D Member Posts: 447
    More pictures needed

    Near boiler piping doesn't look correct. If that's a counterflow system, there should be pipes connected to them leading below the water line of the boiler. Stand back when you take your pictures in order to get the boiler and the piping around it. Take pictures at different angles.
  • Pumpguy
    Pumpguy Member Posts: 691
    Those "bolts"

    are pipe plugs to plug the unused opening it those tees.  Other than for clean out purposes, I don't know why they're there. 



    I'm not a boiler guy, but it looks like you have an undersized steam pipe leading to the old steam main.  If that's the case, this could cause an increase in steam velocity which would carry water along with the steam and give you wet steam.  Wet steam is a bad thing to have.
    Dennis Pataki. Former Service Manager and Heating Pump Product Manager for Nash Engineering Company. Phone: 1-888 853 9963
    Website: www.nashjenningspumps.com

    The first step in solving any problem is TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM.
  • JStar
    JStar Member Posts: 2,752
    Boiler

    Another quality job by Knucklehead Heating.



    The piping is nowhere near correct. Find the installation instructions and hit the installers over the head with them. Demand that the piping be corrected.
  • steamnewbie28
    steamnewbie28 Member Posts: 6
    More pics of the piping

    Note the second smaller pipe that is next to the main leads to nowhere (just ends at the floor). This also suggested a knucklehead to me.
  • Double D
    Double D Member Posts: 447
    Union Steam Manual

    A model number would help to confirm if this is the manual but this is pretty much what you should be seeing.

    http://www.unionsteam.com/docs/gsa_manual.pdf
  • vaporvac
    vaporvac Member Posts: 1,520
    edited February 2014
    Pressure relief valve?

    If that's the pressure relief valve, that pipe is meant to be there to divert the steam/water to the floor in the event of an over-pressure situation. Honestly though, what is the issue with reading the manual?
    Two-pipe Trane vaporvacuum system; 1466 edr
    Twinned, staged Slantfin TR50s piped into 4" header with Riello G400 burners; 240K lead, 200K lag Btus. Controlled by Taco Relay and Honeywell RTH6580WF
  • Double D
    Double D Member Posts: 447
    edited February 2014
    Ends of the mains too

    Could you also get pictures of the ends of the mains so we can see if any of the (what looks like) 3 drop to a wet return. So far from the pictures it looks like you have 2 counter flow mains and maybe one parallel flow main. Do the ends of any of them just end at the farthest radiator? The pipe pointing up close to the floor may have been a run-out to a radiator that was once in that location. 
  • steamnewbie28
    steamnewbie28 Member Posts: 6
    End of the mains

    I do think some of them just end at one of the radiators -- and it's the radiator that is not heating properly.
  • steamnewbie28
    steamnewbie28 Member Posts: 6
    The model number is GSA-150-N-1P

    i think that is the right manual.
  • Double D
    Double D Member Posts: 447
    edited February 2014
    Follow the mains with plugs on the bottom

    See if those 2 mains end at a radiator. If they do, post pictures so that someone can tell you where to put a main vent. Can you also show where the pipe along the wall, coming up from the floor and connecting to the bottom of the boiler leads to.
  • steamnewbie28
    steamnewbie28 Member Posts: 6
    multiple lines

    Those two mains break off into multiple lines that end at radiators. Below is a pic of the one farthest from the boiler (the pipe is going up into the foundation of an extension of the house that has no basement). Also the return is that pipe on the left -- there should be a hartford loop there, no?
  • Double D
    Double D Member Posts: 447
    edited February 2014
    Hartford Loop is at the boiler

    The pipe leading to the wet return is a drip for a run-out to radiator. As long as you mentioned the Hartford loop. The connection must be a close nipple. Yours has a run of pipe leading to the tee at the equalizer. Do the mains where the tees are plugged on the bottom have their lowest point at the boiler?
  • ALIGA
    ALIGA Member Posts: 194
    Not a Union Steam

    The boiler is a Williamson, a rebadged Weil Mclain.

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