Pressuretrols and Trapped pressure

Major7

One is private label for the other. Same boiler.

Major7

Or maybe not... Will have to look into.

Steamhead

Major7 said:

Or maybe not... Will have to look into.

Definitely not.

Major7

My bad. For some reason, the documentation and the warranty that came with the house were from Weil McClain, but the boiler is most def a Utica. Could be the WM was the prior boiler.

Steamhead

Here's the proper manual:

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/185533/Utica-Boilers-Peg-C.html

LarryK

Or look here and avoid the ads. I have the same boiler.
http://www.uticaboilers.com/documents/archived
Look under PEG-E. You also need the wiring addendum.

Major7

Problem is resolved. Pigtail was so clogged that pipe cleaners could not get through to clean it out. I called in a local steam heat specialist, and they managed to break off the pigtail at the thread joint when taking it off. There is so much gunk in the pigtail outlet that the boiler will still run without spewing out steam. It's the weekend now, but they will install a new pigtail, repipe the fresh water feed, and replace two mains vents on Monday.

Thanks for all your help!

New England SteamWorks

Replace main vents with what? Very important detail here that will, in all likelihood, drastically cut down on cycle run time. Right now your boiler just runs and runs trying to chase the air out of the mains before the steam can even get to where it needs to go. It they put the type of vents that are usually used it won't be much of an improvement.

Time for a Big Mouth intervention, me thinks.

Major7

Excellent question. The mains are nearly at the ceiling line, and there is only room for a small vent. They are Hoffman 4As, and they are completely closed off. I purchased two Gorton #2s last year, but they are absolutely huge. I don't see how to fit them in the space I have available.

Fred

The Barnes and Jones Big Mouth vents are smaller than the Gorton #2's and each Big Mouth has the capacity of better than 2 of the Gorton's. Consider them:
https://www.amazon.com/Barnes-Jones-Big-Mouth-Vent/dp/B01F26P13C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475956220&sr=8-1&keywords=Barnes+and+Jones+Big+Mouth+vent

Also, The Barnes and Jones Varivent is much smaller and they are about equal to a Gorton #2 in capacity
https://www.amazon.com/Barnes-Jones-BJ-2VV-NPT-Vari-Vent/dp/B01GQP0DQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475956335&sr=8-1&keywords=Barnes+and+Jones+Varivent

Steamhead

Major7 said:

Excellent question. The mains are nearly at the ceiling line, and there is only room for a small vent. They are Hoffman 4As, and they are completely closed off. I purchased two Gorton #2s last year, but they are absolutely huge. I don't see how to fit them in the space I have available.

Take a pic and post it here.

Major7

https://goo.gl/photos/qt9Ju27RFVZp6fJT7

Hope this works. These are from last year. I since cut away some of the drywall, and found that there is an adjacent joist on both main vents.

Major7

Is there a site where I can get better details on the external dimensions of the B&J products? Their public website seems to be geared towards steam traps.

BobC

The big mouth has a 3/4" diameter tail piece you screw into the pipe and then the vent mounts to that with a union fitting. You need about 4-1/2" height above the fitting your mounting it to.

Bob

Major7

Thanks. My biggest problem with the vent is its diameter. I uploaded a photo into the same folder that shows the vent basically touches the joist. Anything that sticks out would prevent the installer from spinning it onto the nipple.

Fred

Major7 said:

Thanks. My biggest problem with the vent is its diameter. I uploaded a photo into the same folder that shows the vent basically touches the joist. Anything that sticks out would prevent the installer from spinning it onto the nipple.

It doesn't have to be spun onto the nipple. You take the tail piece off of the vent, screw it into a female fitting on the nipple and then mount the vent using the union type connection on the vent. Vent doesn't spin, just the union fitting.

KC_Jones

Fred said:

Vent doesn't spin, just the union fitting.

Another advantage of the Big Mouth.

BobC

You will need a 5/8" hex key to tighten the tailpiece, then you sit the bigmouth on top of the tailpiece and tighten the union nut.

Bob